Overcome By Grace

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. — Romans 8:1 “No condemnation.” What life-giving words to us. Right up front it tells us that we were under condemnation at one point, but now, there is no condemnation for us. Not one single ounce of it remains for us. There is no caveat to this news. But the question remains, how did we get here? How are we now under no condemnation?  The key lies in the words, “in Christ Jesus”. As with many questions we have, much more this one, the answer is Christ. Probably most importantly this one. For without Christ we stand condemned.  Before Christ we all served the law of sin. Our desire was for sin and we hated God with all our being (Romans 8:7). We were ruled by our flesh and our desire was for our own pleasure. The message of the Cross that is found in Scripture was foolishness to us as Paul says in another place (1 Corinthians 1:18).  Condemnation What is this condemnation w...

I’ve been reading through Psalm 119 over the past few weeks. A couple verses that have been stuck on my mind a lot and have been drawing me back again and again are these: Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. Psalm 119:67, 71 So often I become complacent. I’ve found that when life is easy and going smoothly, I forget God’s Word so easily. “I don’t need God right now. I’ve got this handled.” How foolish. It is at that moment that I most need God. It is at that moment that sin is at the door, ready to come in and wreak havoc. I’ve already lost the battle against sin before it even happens. And yet complacency occurs again and again. So God, in His kindness, afflicts me. It is not an affliction that is fueled by His wrath. I’ve heard it well said before that if you face no temptations and trials in your life, be fearful. It very well may be that you are not Christ’s...

One of my favorite songs of all time is Rich Mullins’, Awesome God. My favorite lyric of that song is this line: Judgment and wrath He poured out on the Sodom  Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross I hope that you have not Too quickly forgotten that Our God is an awesome God Up to that point in the song Rich has been explaining why our God is awesome. From the moment of creation, to the time of the Fall, and to the cross, Rich shows us why our God is an awesome God. All summed up in this culminating statement, “Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross”. Many times when I hear this line, I have been brought to tears. I look to God’s holiness and see my sinfulness. I see His wrath on Sodom for their sin, then I see His mercy and grace at the Cross. That judgment and wrath that He poured out on Sodom... I deserved that. But He gave  me  grace. See this passage from 1 Corinthians: Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit th...

“Only once in sacred Scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree. Only once is a characteristic of God mentioned three times in succession. The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy.” ⎯ R.C. Sproul Our God is holy, holy, holy. It is a threefold emphasis. An emphasis we do well to consider. So what does it mean that God is holy, holy, holy?  That is a question I have been mulling around in my head and trying to understand after I asked it of a good friend. It’s an easy question to pass by and say, “Well, scripture says He is…” But if you think about it and delve into scripture for answers, you may have your mind blown at the awesome thought of how He is holy and what that means to us, His creatures.  In addition to showing what it means that God is holy, I also want to tie God’s innate holiness into the incarnation of the Son. Because, through His Son, we are able to approach the holy God and we are able to have union with the Holy....