An Excerpt from “Redeemed and Righteous by Nature.” Get your copy here!
God uses conviction, not condemnation. If there is an area in your life where you have sinned or where you have missed it, He is going to convict you.
The difference between condemnation and conviction is this: Conviction always presents the way out, which is to repent. Condemnation says, “There is no hope for you. Forget it. You’re lost. You’re a loser! God doesn’t want to hear from you. He doesn’t want to forgive you.”
Condemnation never has a way back to God. That is why God never uses condemnation.
Because you are the righteousness of God in Christ, you are now located in Romans 8:1, free from all condemnation. Remember, there is now no condemnation to anyone who is in Christ Jesus.
Over 130 times in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit uses the phrases “in Christ,” “in Him,” and “in Whom.” That is emphatic! He is putting emphasis on this position in Christ. These promises, benefits, abilities are ours in Christ. This liberty from condemnation is for those who are in Christ.
ROMANS 8:10
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
We have been looking at our being in Christ, but we know this is a two-way relationship. I’m in Him, and He’s in me. He is the Vine; I am the branch. I abide in Him; His words abide in me.
He established me in righteousness when He raised me from that position of spiritual death. He raised me from my old condition of Michelle B.C. (before Christ) to my current condition of Michelle A.D. (after death). Jesus died in my place. Now, I am a person created in righteousness and true holiness. Glory to God!
ROMANS 8:12
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
If we wanted to complete the thought presented in the first section of the verse, we could say, “We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh, but to the Spirit to live after the Spirit.” I love that!
We are no longer debtors to our flesh. Consequently, we are not obligated to obey anything our flesh wants us to do. We are not obligated to always be right, to have the last word, or to involve ourselves in riotous living. Therefore, I am going to live out of the “who-I-am-in-Christ” me.
I want to show you another biblical description of how right standing operates in our lives.
ROMANS 6:12-13
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
The phrase Let not in verse 12 means “don’t let it.” So, don’t obey or yield to the cravings or impulses of the flesh.
We are to yield ourselves unto God, as those who are alive from the dead, and yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Because I am in right standing through what Jesus has done, I can walk in victory over sin. Sin has no dominion over me. I do not have to let it have any place in my body, in my life, in my mind, or in my thinking.
I do not have to yield my eyes to wrong things. I do not have to yield my ears to wrong things. I do not have to yield my mouth to saying wrong things. I don’t have to yield any part of my life to unrighteousness.
Instead, every day, I can get up and yield myself unto God. As I do, this righteousness that I am in Christ begins to live out through me.
What I do with my hands becomes righteous. What I do with my mouth becomes righteous. What I do with my eyes, ears, and life becomes righteous. I am yielding myself as an instrument of righteousness unto God. Glory to God! This is the life that is ours in Christ Jesus.
