1So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty. 2Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made me free from the law that brings sin and death. 3The law was without power, because the law was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that others use for sin. By sending his Son to be an offering to pay for sin, God used a human life to destroy sin. 4He did this so that we could be the kind of people the law correctly wants us to be. Now we do not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit.
5Those who live following their sinful selves think only about things that their sinful selves want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about the things the Spirit wants them to do. 6If people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. 7When people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, they are against God, because they refuse to obey God’s law and really are not even able to obey God’s law. 8Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.
In Touch Daily Devotional
by Dr. Charles Stanley
God's Plan to Take Away Our Guilt -- Romans 8:1-8
Scripture teaches that one aspect of the Holy Spirit's work is to convict man about his sin (John 16:8). His purpose is to turn us from our iniquity and direct us to God.
Peter felt great remorse after denying that he knew Jesus (Matthew 26:75). Paul fell to his knees when Christ confronted him about his wrong behavior (Acts 9:4). Both men responded to these convicting experiences by repenting and following the Lord.
At one time we all were spiritually dead. Sin's presence was corrupting our human nature from the inside out, blinding us to spiritual truth. With our will directed towards self and against God, "we were by nature objects of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3 niv). In other words, we were under condemnation and facing eternal death--God's required payment for our transgressions (Romans 6:23). So in our natural state, we were unconnected to the Lord and headed toward eternal separation from Him.
Although we were helpless to change our situation, God had a plan that would satisfy His justice and place us in His family. He sent His Son to be our substitute--to bear our sin and guilt and to die in our place. Not only did Jesus pay our sin-debt in full, but His righteousness becomes ours the moment we place trust in Him.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our guilt before God, and thankfully, we don't have to be separated from Him now or throughout eternity. Have you received Jesus as your personal Savior? If so, then recognize that your position before the Lord has been changed from guilty to righteous.
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