With Sunday being Palm Sunday we begin what is known in the church HOLY WEEK, there are a few things that we should think about. I believe we should start with the thought that all Jesus suffered and did this week was to assure us that as long as we abide in Him and walk in the Spirit, we are no longer condemned. You see, we, believers, are no longer condemned because Christ took our condemnation for us. He was condemned to death on the cross for our sins.

NO CONDEMNATION

In Romans 8.1, Paul teaches “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

I emphasized “BELIEVERS” because the verse states “for those who are in Christ Jesus”. This is the only way we’re condemnation free. Thing is that if it was Jesus that took our condemnation then believing in Him, in what He did and in why He did it guarantees our being set free. This is especially important for those that preach inclusion.

See the Bible teaches that every human being will be brought before the judgment throne of God for an ultimate and decisive judgment and Christ Himself will be the judge. We are all naturally under the condemnation of God. John 3.18b teaches: “Whoever does not believe stands condemned already”, but Christians will not be found guilty on Judgment Day (Whoever believes in him is not condemned, John 3:18a).

FREE YOUR MIND

Paul takes this a step further in Romans 8 when he teaches that believers are not only free from the bondage to sin, we’re also free from the inner emotions and thoughts that tend to bring feelings of condemnation when we commit sin. As Christians we’re free from the “law of sin and death,” which means, although we will commit sin, the Law no longer has the power to condemn us. We are not under the Law’s condemnation because Jesus fulfilled the expectations of the Law perfectly, and believers are “in Christ”. Because we’re in Christ, we have the joy of being counted as righteous, simply because Christ is righteous (and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. Philippians 3.9). Paul also points out that genuine Christians, although we struggle, will not live “according to the flesh”; that is, they will not persist in a constant state of sinful living because we set our minds on the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5).

We don’t need to fear condemnation because we can come to God as our loving, forgiving Father. If we constantly live in a state of shame and guilt over past failures we’re needlessly condemning ourselves when we ought to be “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” (Philippians 3:13). Fear can be paralyzing, “but perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18). As Christians, we must understand that our justification is found in Christ alone—in His finished work on the cross—not in what we do or don’t do. We can find solace in the assurance that we have been adopted into God’s own family and have been made heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Nothing can separate us “from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:39).