No Condemnation

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”—Romans 8:1

Al-Megrahi had been convicted for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 killing 270 people. He had been serving a life sentence for his crime until this past September when he was pardoned on the grounds of compassion because he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was an outrage to many, especially for those whose family members were killed by the explosion. They wanted justice. He had been condemned to a life sentence, but was freed.

Our Scripture for today speaks of condemnation. Just as Al-Megrahi was guilty of perpetrating one of the most heinous acts of terrorism against humanity, so too were we guilty. Our crime was even more heinous. Our guilt went beyond sinning against humanity; our guilt was in the face of Deity. We were God’s enemy and under His wrath (cf. Ephesians 2:3; Romans 5:8). We weren’t condemned by any earthly court, but by the holy court of heaven.

God, in His mercy, set us free. The divine pardon is far different than the government of Scotland pardoning Al-Megrahi. God pardoned us because another gave His life in our place. Jesus took our place, took the sentence that was required of our sin…death. And because of His substitutionary death, we have been pardoned…set free.

In the light of what Jesus has done, we have been given a promise: “There is therefore now…” We have been changed because of what Jesus has done. He was condemned on our behalf so that we would not have to be. He paid the price for our sins. His sacrifice was sufficient. It covered all of our sins, past, present, and future. It removed our guilt in the sight of God. It’s all under His blood. Ephesians 1:7-8 says,  

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.” 

We have been saved from the wrath of God as Romans 5:9 says,  

“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.” 

  Our sins have been covered, we have been saved from the wrath of God and we can now have peace with God as Colossians 1:20 says,  

“and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”  

Because of what Jesus did, we are no longer under God’s condemnation. Nothing can change that. There is nothing that can take God’s love or His salvation away from us. There is no sin, no obstacle, no sickness, and no pain that can separate us from what we have in Jesus, not even death itself. Death has been conquered and we have been set free.

Though we have been set free, we still are plagued by our sinful nature. It rails against the Spirit attempting to accuse us before God. We sin…inevitably we all sin. But, God reminds us that  

“if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”—1 John 1:9. 

We confess and are forgiven. God reminds us that He is ready and willing to forgive sin and give grace. We weep. We weep with godly sorrow over the sins that we commit, knowing that our sins grieve the Spirit and heart of God (2 Corinthians 7:9-10). Yet, God still will forgive and will no longer condemn because the punishment that we deserved He took upon Himself in the person of His Son. What great love! He won’t condemn us because when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we enter into the sacred mystery of having Him become our sin and us becoming the righteousness of God.

My brother or sister in Christ, may I say with the utmost authority from God’s Holy Word that if you have trusted in Christ Jesus as the Lord and Savior of your life, you too can claim this same promise, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Amen.