How I deserve condemnation, but there is none!
"Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, 'This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.' For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, 'Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.'" (Nehemiah 8:9-10)
I find myself to be much like these people at times when I hear or read the Word of God. I find myself weeping and feeling very weak and unworthy because I fall so terribly short of what God requires. There is no strength in me to do what my spirit knows to be godly. I want so badly to act in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, but my flesh betrays what is in my heart. Paul worded perfectly what is raging within me..."For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members." (Romas 7:22-23) If it weren't for this chapter in the Bible, how could I begin to deal with the conflict between my spirit and my flesh. There's so much confusion there. Sometimes I'm so bound up in sin that I wonder how on earth I could be saved. How could God ordain that I, a redeemed creature of His, act in such a way? How does God get glory from my wretched sinful behavior? I cry out with Paul, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24) Then there's the glorious answer to Paul's question and mine..."Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 7:25-8:1) The way that I know that I'm saved is that there is a constant battle between my sinful flesh and my redeemed soul. [Unregenerate souls live peacefully inside of sinful flesh with no battle whatsoever.] God uses my struggle with sin to show me my helplessness before Him and my complete unworthiness of His mercy and grace in salvation. God is glorified when my eyes see His mercy upon me and when He moves me to do even one tiny godly thing through the strength He provides.
Looking from Romans back to the passage in Nehemiah...those people wept when the heard the law because they saw their inability to keep it. The law revealed the sinfulness of their nature before a holy and righteous God. They saw how they as a people had failed so miserably to walk in the statutes of the Lord. But, that day, Nehemiah and Ezra admonished them to focus not on their sin, but on the strength of God. Nehemiah and Ezra directed the people's focus upon God's strength and encouraged them to find joy in Him. "Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."(Nehemiah 8:10b) What a glorious verse!
Oh God! Thank you for Paul and for Romans 7 and 8! Lord thank you for Ezra and Nehemiah! Thank You for keeping me fighting the battle against the evil of my flesh---for it is great! Even though the evil of my flesh is great---Lord, You are far greater! "...greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:4) Oh God, give me great joy in believing that You have sealed my soul for the day of redemption and that You have already won all the battles I'll ever fight! Oh God, how I deserve condemnation, but by your mercy and grace and the loving obedience of Christ, there is none!
I find myself to be much like these people at times when I hear or read the Word of God. I find myself weeping and feeling very weak and unworthy because I fall so terribly short of what God requires. There is no strength in me to do what my spirit knows to be godly. I want so badly to act in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, but my flesh betrays what is in my heart. Paul worded perfectly what is raging within me..."For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members." (Romas 7:22-23) If it weren't for this chapter in the Bible, how could I begin to deal with the conflict between my spirit and my flesh. There's so much confusion there. Sometimes I'm so bound up in sin that I wonder how on earth I could be saved. How could God ordain that I, a redeemed creature of His, act in such a way? How does God get glory from my wretched sinful behavior? I cry out with Paul, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24) Then there's the glorious answer to Paul's question and mine..."Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 7:25-8:1) The way that I know that I'm saved is that there is a constant battle between my sinful flesh and my redeemed soul. [Unregenerate souls live peacefully inside of sinful flesh with no battle whatsoever.] God uses my struggle with sin to show me my helplessness before Him and my complete unworthiness of His mercy and grace in salvation. God is glorified when my eyes see His mercy upon me and when He moves me to do even one tiny godly thing through the strength He provides.
Looking from Romans back to the passage in Nehemiah...those people wept when the heard the law because they saw their inability to keep it. The law revealed the sinfulness of their nature before a holy and righteous God. They saw how they as a people had failed so miserably to walk in the statutes of the Lord. But, that day, Nehemiah and Ezra admonished them to focus not on their sin, but on the strength of God. Nehemiah and Ezra directed the people's focus upon God's strength and encouraged them to find joy in Him. "Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."(Nehemiah 8:10b) What a glorious verse!
Oh God! Thank you for Paul and for Romans 7 and 8! Lord thank you for Ezra and Nehemiah! Thank You for keeping me fighting the battle against the evil of my flesh---for it is great! Even though the evil of my flesh is great---Lord, You are far greater! "...greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:4) Oh God, give me great joy in believing that You have sealed my soul for the day of redemption and that You have already won all the battles I'll ever fight! Oh God, how I deserve condemnation, but by your mercy and grace and the loving obedience of Christ, there is none!
Comments