Message of the Month

                                                                2/1/10

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

When a person accepts the vicarious death of Christ as payment for his sins, or in other words accepts Christ as his personal savior, he is told that he is set free. What is he set free from? We all realize that we are freed from our past sins. Paul, in many of his writings to the churches in the area, tells them that they are set free in Christ. In various ways he tells what they have been set free from. Today I would like to look at some other freedoms that we obtain by accepting Jesus Christ as our savior.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) Paul in his letter to the church in Rome, tells them that there is no condemnation for those who are born again Christians. It doesn’t say that there is no sin or that they will never sin again or that they will never stumble in their walk with the Lord, but rather that there is now no condemnation. Condemnation in the Greek means an adverse sentence or to judge against. The old Hebrew law that was given by God to show the need for a Savior condemns the sinner, but we, as Christians, have a new relationship with the law. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:4-6) We have been made free from the law by dying to ourselves in Christ. We do this by accepting Jesus as our personal Savior and putting service to Him as our main focus in life. It doesn’t say that we will never sin, but we are set free from condemnation for it. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh. (Romans 8:2-3) The law cannot condemn you because Jesus Christ has taken that condemnation upon Himself and set you free. The law cannot control you. It can only reveal and condemn sin. It cannot produce holiness. Legalist Christians live to fulfill the law (or rules of men) and thus please God, while Christians live to please God and thus fulfill the law. Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. (Matt 5:17) Jesus Himself says that He did not do away with the law but that He bestows upon us all the requirements to fulfill the law and produce holiness in each person who will accept Him as their Lord and Savior. We are free from condemnation for our past sins and for any that we will commit in the future. God knew every sin that you had committed and every sin that you would ever commit, and yet He said, " I still want you as my child. Come to me."

The second freedom we have in Christ Jesus is the freedom from guilt. We all have sinned and are guilty of breaking God’s law. Paul demonstrates this in (Romans 7: 15-8:1) "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good." Paul found, that even as a committed apostle of Jesus Christ, he would be drawn into doing what he knew was wrong. He goes on to say that even though he has this problem with sin, there is no condemnation from God because Paul has placed his spirit in Christ Jesus. We are released from the prison of guilt by the death of Christ.

During the time of Jesus when you owed a debt that you could not pay, you were placed in prison. On the post outside was placed a list of the charge of indebtedness. You served the time. When your time was served, the list was taken down, and the Greek word teleo was written across it. That word means complete, but it also means a discharged debt. That is the word that Christ used on the cross that is translated finished. Christ proclaimed teleo, "Your debt has been discharged." "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, "I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." ( Jer. 31:33-34)

God tells us that He no longer remembers our sin when we ask for forgiveness. Not only are we forgiven, but our sins are also blotted out. If we sin again, even if it is the same sin, God sees it as the first time we have committed sin. Up to that time He had removed our sins, blotted them out, and does not remember that we have sinned. He doesn’t say, "Oh no there he goes again!" God doesn’t remember all the other times we have sinned!

Satan tries to convince us that we are so covered with past sin that we can never be loved by God. NOT TRUE! God sees us with no sin. The guilt we feel for sins that we have asked forgiveness for is not from God but from Satan. We need to quit looking at the past and look to God and the future. As God sees it, we are not guilty of anything.

First, we are free from sin through the death of Jesus Christ. Second, we are free from guilt because God sees us as sinless. Third, we are free from the judgment of sin. When judgment is mentioned, most Christians think of the great white throne of judgment and picture themselves standing before God. Many Christians believe that they will be judged for the sins that they have committed in their life. The scripture tells us differently. God will not judge you for sin that has been forgiven. He sees you as sinless so there is nothing for Him to judge.

There are three judgments for the Christian in the Bible. But first, let’s look at the great white throne of judgment. It is not for the born again Christian. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and book were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:11-15) We see a number of things happening in this scripture. There are two types of dead. The first type was standing before God, and the Book of Life was opened and checked because they were judged by what was written in the book. The Book of Life refers to spiritual life in Christ Jesus. The dead here are the spiritually dead because they are not in the Book of Life. This judgment is for those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. The Book of Life shows them that they are not in it. It may even show every time that they rejected the opportunity of salvation. Then it moves to the judgment. The spiritually dead are judged according to their deeds. This seems to be important to their judgment. Not all the deeds of the lost are bad and evil. Some deeds are good, and some live a good life doing good but are lost because they have not accepted Christ as their Savior. It is like attending college classes without registering. You can do all the work, get straight A‘s, but if you are not registered you do not graduate. There must be degrees of punishment. The dead were called up along with hell, and those not found in the Book of Life were cast into the lake of fire.

What about the Christians? There must be other references to explain what happens to them. There are three references to the judgment of Christians.

First, there is the judgment of their sins. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. (John 5:24) The Christian shall not come into judgment but passes directly into life everlasting. That is the key. God has given the judgment of the saints to the Son. "For the father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son." (John 5:22) How are believers sins judged? They are judged by Christ. They are judged by seeing whether they have accepted the death of Christ as a substitute for their death. They are judged by the crucifixion of Christ. When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, our sins are judged at that time and found paid for.

Second, a Christian must partake in self-judgment. We must not judge one another but we must judge what we do. "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the sane measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck out of your eye;’ and look, a plank is in you own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye." (Matt. 7:1-5) Jesus is telling us here that we need not look at others to help them until we have judged the sins in our lives and removed them. We are to continually to inspect our lives for sin and judge and remove it.

First, our sins are judged by the crucifixion of Christ. Second, our sins are judged by ourselves and put under the blood of Christ. Third, we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to have our works judged. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (II Corinth. 5:10) We will not stand before the great white throne of judgment spoken of in Revelation, but we will stand before Christ to have our works as a Christian judged. Some will be good, and some will be bad. What happens if most of them are bad. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become manifest; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work , of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

( I Corinth. 3:11-15) What day is Paul referring to? It is the day that each Christian will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to have his works judged. After we receive Christ as our Savior, we begin building upon Him as our foundation of life. This scripture says we can build with good materials that are acceptable to God. This can be in ministry or in our everyday life. We can also build with materials not pleasing to God. This may not be terrible things but just not what God wanted for our lives, or it may even be unrepentant sin which we all have. If we build according to God’s will, we will receive a reward If we have not built according to God’s will for our lives or have unrepentant sin, it will be burned off, but we will still will enter into heaven. Paul says we will still be saved. We will not take rewards with us but we will not be lost.

This brings me to the last freedom that I would like to consider today. That is the freedom from fear. As sinners saved by the grace of God, we don’t have to have fear of sin, fear of the judgment of God or the fear of being lost. Once we have accepted Christ Jesus as our Savior, and we strive to live as God wants us to, we will enter in on that day even if we find as Paul found that so many times we do what we know we should not be doing. ( Romans 7:15-8:1) Paul also tells us that if we have not been in God’s will most of our life, it will all be burned off in that day, but we will still be saved. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand." ( John 10:27-28)

Living the Christian life is not like standing on the inside of a door and every time you sin Satan opens the door and yanks you out, and then you have to strive to get back in. Christ Jesus tells us in this scripture that no one can snatch you out of His hand. Once you are in His hand you are there throughout eternity unless you actively try to get out of it on your own. This would be not by just committing a sin but by turning on God and actively desiring to remove yourself.

Today we, as Christians, can rejoice over the freedoms we have and need not fear being blocked from entering Heaven. Our names are written the Lamb’s Book of Life, and no one can remove it.