Jesus Frees Us From Sin
Posted by Karah
Pause
Begin your time with God with honest confession. What sins have you committed? Ask God for His forgiveness for each sin and thank Him for His mercy and grace.
Consider the definition of condemnation below. What words come to mind when you think about the word condemned?
Condemnation n. -To be declared guilty or wrong; to experience censure or punishment
The truth is, we’re all condemned. We have all broken God’s laws, and the law condemns us of our sin. But the story doesn’t end there. Read Romans 8:1-11 in your Bible. Underline any form of the word condemned when you read it.
“For God has done what the law, weakened by flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” —Romans 8:3-4
The law reveals the kind of life that pleases God, but it can’t empower us to live that way. The law can do nothing about our sin, and we are incapable of living a life that pleases God in our own strength.
Read verses 3 and 4 again. How has God condemned sin? Explain.
What’s the difference between following a bunch of rules to earn God’s favor and trusting Jesus to make you pleasing to God?
Which of those understandings best describes you? Why?
Respond
The only way you can have victory over sin and live to please God is through a relationship with the One who has already conquered sin: Jesus.
Even as believers, it’s easy for us to make following Christ about a bunch of rules, good things we strive to do in our own strength to earn God’s favor. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any way you are trying to do that today. Confess these things and choose once again to rest in Jesus’ finished work.
Memorize Romans 8:1. Any time you feel condemned by your sin, speak the verse aloud, remembering what Jesus has done for you.
Behind the Story
In Romans, Paul wrote to Jewish believers who had been taught they could be righteous by following the law. While the law can help us to know when we have failed to live up to God’s standards, it cannot make us righteous. Only Christ can do that. People cannot make themselves holy by their own effort; we will always fail. It is only by the work of Christ in our lives that we can live in victory over sin.
The Point
In Jesus, God has done what the law could not: defeated sin.
Posted in Boys, Devotions | Tagged Camp Ridgecrest Alumni and Friends, Camp Ridgecrest for Boys, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Weekly Devotions