This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to our daily drive-time devotions to the book of Romans.
Hi, I'm Pastor Tom Holiday, and this week we are beginning a look together at
Romans chapter 8. I am a lover of history, a great student of American history,
and one of my favorite stories from American history has always been those
immigrants that came through Ellis Island, and that moment that they all had as
they approached the American shore, and they strained to see the Statue of
Liberty, because the moment they saw that statue, they knew that they were in
for some new freedom, some new life that they had never seen in their lives
before.

And in many ways, Romans chapter 8 is that Statue of Liberty in the book of
Romans, even greater than that. It's this mountain peak that we've been
traveling towards all through this book. We've gone through some pretty dark
days as we've looked together at what Paul had to say about the fact that all of
us have sinned, and we've all fallen short of God's glory.

And it's all looking forward to what God has to say to us in Romans chapter 8.
Romans chapter 8 is such an important chapter, we're in fact going to take two
weeks together to look at this chapter. Just slow down a little bit, take a few
less verses each day, and really take a good close look at Romans, this eighth
chapter of this incredible book.

And Romans chapter 8 is God's life-changing answer to four common statements,
four things that we've all felt. We've all felt at times, "I'm no good," or
we've felt, "I'm never going to change," or a third thing we've all felt is,
"Everything's falling apart," or there's sometimes when we feel, "There's just
no future for me. " If you've ever felt that way, and who hasn't, God has the
answer in Romans 8.

When I feel I'm no good, God says, "No condemnation. I have a life of liberty
for you. " When I feel I'm never going to change, God says, "No frustration.

I have a life of victory for you. " When I feel like everything's falling apart,
God says, "No desperation. I have a life of expectancy for you.

" And when I feel like there's no future for me, God says, "No separation. I
have a life of security for you. " These next two weeks, we're going to take a
look together at what God says about this new life that he has for us, beginning
with how we deal with the "I'm no good" feeling that we sometimes have.

"I'm not good enough to be saved, and even if I am saved, I'm not good enough to
be loved," or "I'm not good enough to be used. " What do you do when you have
that feeling? Do you ignore it?

Do you wallow in it? You do neither. Instead, you bring that feeling out into
the light, and you examine it.

Here's what you do. When you feel like, "I'm no good," when you feel like, "How
could God love me? " you trust God's promise.

You trust God's promise in Romans 8 verse 1, "Therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. " "Therefore," that ties to the
end of chapter 7, the chapter we looked at last week, "Thanks be to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord that he's given me victory. So therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

" Romans chapter 3 verse 20 showed us the "therefore" of condemnation. Romans 3
20 says, "Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing
the law. Rather, through the law, we become conscious of sin.

" That's the "therefore" of condemnation. Romans 8 1 gives us the "therefore" of
no condemnation, "Therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. " When you hear this promise, you're able to see yourself as God sees you
and think of yourself as God thinks of you.

Now, no condemnation does not mean you're perfect. It doesn't mean no mistakes,
no failures, or even no sins. What does it mean?

What does it mean when the Bible says there is no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus? Let me tell you four things it means. First, it means God is
not angry with you.

God is not angry with you. The Bible says in Psalm 103 verses 13 and 14, "As a
father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who
fear him, for he knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust.

" God understands our struggle with sin, and he has compassion. Jesus is our
good shepherd. If a sheep wanders and gets caught up in a thicket, would you
expect a good shepherd to go up and kick the sheep?

No, it would rescue the sheep. Jesus is the good shepherd, and he cares about us
even when we get caught up in sin. In fact, here's a radical thought.

Next time you get caught up in a temptation or a sin, instead of looking for the
lightning bolt, look for God's tender love, because he wants to lift you out of
that sin. For some people, this thought is scary, that God is not angry with me,
because they use God's anger to motivate them to not sin. As long as you think
God is mad at you, you're never going to go to the only one who can help you.

When you think someone's angry at you, you tend to want to hold them at arm's
length. God wants to help you. No condemnation.

God is not angry with you. What does it mean for God to not condemn us? It also
means God does not punish me.

Psalm 103 verses 10 to 12 says, "He has not punished us as we deserve for our
sins. For his mercy towards those who fear him and honor him is as great as the
height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far away from
us as the east is from the west.

" God doesn't punish us. Now, sometimes he corrects us. A parent who simply
punishes their child because they do wrong is thinking only about themselves,
getting back at their child, punishing someone, because you have hurt me.

God doesn't feel that way towards us. That's what he tells us. God corrects us.

He disciplines us to help us do what is right, but never punishes us. I've
noticed that when I feel guilty, when I feel condemned, I tend to start to view
everything that's happening in my life as some punishment from God. I get up in
the morning, my car won't start.

God's punishing me for what I did. I have a bad day at work. God's punishing me
for what I did.

I go to Taco Bell, and there's no meat in the taco, and I'm thinking God's
punishing me for what I did. There's a vegetarian over on the other side who got
meat in their taco thinking God's punishing me for what I did. That's the
feeling you have, but that's not the truth about God.

God's discipline is clear, and he sometimes focuses his discipline on our lives
to cause us to change, but he doesn't bring this crashing punishment upon us.
God is not out to get me. He's not out to get you.

He's out to grow you. What does it mean to not be condemned? It means a third
thing.

It means God does not reject me. Psalm 94 verse 14 says, "For the Lord will not
reject his people. He will never forsake his inheritance.

" God will never cut us out of his family or treat us as anything less than sons
and daughters. For some, the idea of condemnation is the idea of a cold stare of
rejection. When you condemn someone, you turn your back on them, you ignore
them.

God doesn't condemn us. The one who shouldered your sins on the cross will never
give you the cold shoulder. You're never going to get the silent treatment from
God.

He is a loving Father. He does not reject me. And there's a fourth thing that it
means to not be condemned, that there is no condemnation.

It also means that God does not keep his blessings from me. In the book of
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3, the Bible says, "Praise be to the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. " In Christ, God has given us every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly world.

In Ephesians 1, the blessings are given to those who are in Christ. Remember
that. We're going to come back to that in just a moment.

Sometimes we might fail to receive the blessing that God wants to give to us,
but he never stops giving his blessings. It is clear there are consequences for
our sin. It may mean when I sin that an opportunity is lost or even a ministry
or a family.

I can make that choice. God does give us freedom of choice, even as believers,
but God never cuts us off from his blessings. It's as if we're sitting at this
great banquet table and I can waste some of what I've been given.

That's a loss. That is a tragedy. But I'm never condemned.

I'm never told to leave the table. God never cuts us off from his blessings as
his children. There is therefore now no condemnation.

But remember how that verse ends, "For those who are in Christ Jesus. " That's
the key. In Christ.

There is no condemnation because we belong to Christ. We are in Christ. Being in
Christ means that we have given our heart to him, that you have trusted him for
your life.

Remember as we've looked through the book of Romans, we've seen that the entire
human race polarizes around two men, those who are in Adam and those who are in
Christ, those who are trusting in the way that I've been born and brought up and
that's all I have those who are trusting in Christ. The secret to no
condemnation is not being in the right ministry or in the right church or in the
right Bible study or even in the right mood. The secret to no condemnation is
being in Christ.

So as we close this look at Romans 8-1 today, let me ask you a question. If God
does not condemn you, who are you to condemn yourself? Some people think if God
won't punish me, then maybe I'd better punish myself.

Or if I punish myself, then maybe God won't punish me. That is blasphemy.
Blasphemy is when a human being tries to take the place of God.

As if you could pay for your own sins. As if you could punish yourself for your
own sins. Condemnation will never work to change us.

That's why nagging doesn't work. Condemning someone to get them to change only
gets them to change if they do change as long as the condemning person is there,
as long as the threat of condemnation is there. There is therefore now no
condemnation.

God gives us the promise of change because we are in Christ. So as we pray
today, let's take a moment to thank God. Thank God by faith.

Look to Him, your Father, and say, "Father, thank you that because I am in
Christ, you are not angry with me. You are not out to punish me. You will not
reject me.

And Father, you will not keep your blessings from me. Forgive me for those times
when I brought condemnation upon myself instead of looking to you for
forgiveness. " Lord, when I recognize that there's no condemnation, that doesn't
mean I'm perfect.

It does not mean I don't need, desperately, the forgiving power of the cross of
Jesus Christ. When I say there is no condemnation, Jesus, I am recognizing what
you did for me on that cross. So thank you.

Thank you, God, for your non-condemning love for me. In Jesus' name, amen.
Tomorrow, we're going to continue our look at this great chapter, Romans chapter
8, as we look at verses 2 and 3.