Romans Rom 8:1- 4

  Therefore, now, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. NKJV

  Very ordinary words sometimes have an extraordinary importance given to them by the context in which they are spoken. Let’s have a look at some of the easily understood words in the text we are thinking about today.

  Therefore is the first word we will look at. This is always a word to which we should pay attention when we read it in the Bible. It means that the writer has reached a conclusion based on what he has already written. If you want to find out what therefore is there for you need to look at what has gone before.

  In this case we can go right back to the first chapter of this letter.

  Rom 1:16 -17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. NKJV 

The whole argument rests on this fact, the gospel is the power of God that releases men and women from the power of sin.

 The argument is then pursued through the rest of the book. Let's read part of the argument as it is written in Rom 6:17-23.

  But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV

Now is the present. It suggests there was a time when things were different from what they are now. Something happened that changed my relationship with God. There was a time when I was under condemnation.

My guilt was plain. I was a sinner under God’s judgment without a word to say in my defence. My sins condemned me and the penalty of sin was separation from God. But now things are different.

  There is no condemnation. Jesus paid the penalty of my sin when He was hanged on a cross. There came a time in my life when I saw Jesus in all His righteousness publicly disgraced and shamed paying the ultimate price for my sin. With a broken heart I knelt before Him and thanked Him. I asked Him to forgive my sins and to come into my life to give me the strength I needed to live for Him.

  I was no longer under God’s condemnation. I was now accepted, in Christ, as a child of God.

  Life took on a whole new meaning. Instead of living to satisfy the basest desires of human nature I now live under the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit. Instead of living only to please myself, I now live to please God.