05 September 2021
Two-Minute Features | 12 September 2021

Condemnation Does Have Its Place (TMF:1695)

Friday, September 10, 2021
Peace to Live By: Condemnation Does Have Its Place (TMF:1695) - Daniel Litton
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       No, this is not to say that we may initially feel condemned at the moment we realize we have committed a sin. The Apostle John tells us, “for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:20, 21, ESV). Now, John was not contradicting what Paul is saying here in Romans 8. For Paul has said at other places that we are to examine ourselves before God. We have to have an initial condemnation, or conviction, as we more regularly call it, from the Spirit of God in order to repent of a sin, in order to confess it. The problem comes for us when we continually mull over that sin, thinking about it constantly, and replaying it in our sins. It’s then that we come under the condemnation Paul is telling us here in Romans 8 that we are not part of anymore.

Continual Condemnation From God? (TMF:1694)

Thursday, September 09, 2021
Peace to Live By: Continual Condemnation From God? (TMF:1694) - Daniel Litton
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       So, if God doesn’t continually condemn us, and yet we feel condemnation in us, where does that condemnation come from? Well, if it’s not coming from God then it must be coming from the other side, from Satan. Yes, for sure. Satan will try to get us to focus on our sin, to continually think about it over and over. He will use demonic spirits to remind us of our sin. He wants us to think about our sin. Recall, elsewhere in Scripture Satan is called the accuser of us, as Christians. He loves to accuse us, to try to get us to forget that Christ has paid for all our offenses, and that all we need to do is count on him. At the time Satan and his forces present these lies to us, we have one of two choices to make. We can either accept what Satan says, and feel horrible, or we can say back to him that God has forgiven our sin and wants me to forget about it. We can repeat back to him, “There is no condemnation for me because I am in Christ Jesus.”

What Does No Condemnation Mean? (TMF:1693)

Wednesday, September 08, 2021
Peace to Live By: What Does No Condemnation Mean? (TMF:1693) - Daniel Litton
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       We will always be right in God’s sight, no matter what. Now, what does “no condemnation” mean exactly? No condemnation from what? From ourselves, from God, from other people? What is Paul talking about here? Well, in theory all of these. The most important, though, is that God doesn’t condemn us anymore. And man, oftentimes this has been a hard thing for us to get through our heads. Definitely so. I think the more legalistic or perfectionistic a person is, the harder it is for him or her to accept the fact that God doesn’t condemn them for sin anymore. This doesn’t mean God doesn’t tell us to make correction, or even discipline us at the time we don’t make correction, but it means God doesn’t condemn us when we sin. He doesn’t stay upset with us for a long period of time. He doesn’t bring up past sins to us, and say, “Well, remember what you did back here? I’m still punishing you for that.” No, God doesn’t condemn us any longer.

The Experiential Truth of Romans 8:1 (TMF:1692)

Tuesday, September 07, 2021
Peace to Live By: The Experiential Truth of Romans 8:1 (TMF:1692) - Daniel Litton
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       “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not according to the flesh (but according to the Spirit)” (Romans 8:1, ESV). To get started, we have a “therefore” that needs addressed here. And Paul is piggybacking on what he has said in the last chapter, chapter 7. Remember? He was talking about the current state of Christians, how we still sin even when we don’t want to, even when we know we shouldn’t. And that’s because we still retain our sin natures, even now. And that absolutely has to be true for this verse here in Romans chapter 8 to make any sense. It’s not that we now have no condemnation because we are sin-free. No, we all are aware that’s not the case—not the case at all. But, Paul is saying here that in spite of that fact, we now have no condemnation simply because we have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Our slates have been wiped clean, and not only up until this point, but past, present, and future.

Note About Second Half of Romans 8:1 (TMF:1691)

Monday, September 06, 2021
Peace to Live By: Note About Second Half of Romans 8:1 (TMF:1691) - Daniel Litton
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       Let’s go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 8 in our Bibles, or tap there on our mobile devices, and go to verse one. And one thing to note before we get started here, and that is that many of you are going to have the second half of verse one missing in your Bibles. I’ve stated my belief about this in the past, but the main reason is because the modern translators have gotten fancy on us and removed it because it only appears in some of the manuscripts. Nevertheless, I want us to keep it here because it has been there for 1,900 years or so, and nows not the time to be editing our Bibles right before Jesus returns. (People sometimes want to criticize modern translations for being too readable and yet those same folks don’t want to criticize the deleting of verses. Ok, whatever). Romans chapter 8, starting in verse 1: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not according to the flesh (but according to the Spirit).”