Chosen In The Son, Free From Condemnation
The verdict is grace, the Advocate lives, walk free in Jesus
Devotional Credit, Immeasurably More by Ray Stedman
Photo Credit, Unsplash
Some voices are loud in the Christian life. The inner critic. Old regrets. Accusations that say you are disqualified. Today’s reading from Ray Stedman brings us back to Romans 8, where God answers those voices with the finished work of Jesus. Paul looks across his letter and gathers two great realities. God justifies, and Jesus intercedes. That means the courtroom is settled, and the present moment is supplied. We are not rearranging our past with positive thoughts. We are resting in what God has already done in His Son.
Paul asks, who will bring a charge against God’s people. God is the One who justifies. In other words, the verdict of the Judge is already rendered in favor of all who are in the Messiah. And if anyone had the right to condemn, it would be Jesus. Yet Jesus is the One who died, who was raised, who sits at the Father’s right hand, and who prays for us. The only rightful Judge is also our Redeemer and Advocate. Condemnation has no seat left in the room.
Some hear chosen and think of isolated selection. In the New Testament, God’s chosen people are defined in and around His Son. He chose a people in Christ, and everyone who trusts Jesus shares that chosen standing by union with Him. This honors the breadth of the gospel call and the security of belonging. It is corporate in scope and personal in experience. In Him, the many promises find their Yes, and in Him, the accusations lose their force.
So we do not deny sin or pretend it is small. We agree with God’s verdict that sin is serious. Then we agree with His grace that the cross is sufficient. We step into the light because the One who could condemn us chose to bear our guilt and now lives in us by His Spirit. This is not bravado. This is belonging. It is the freedom to walk forward today without the weight of self-condemnation, counting on the risen life of Jesus to express what we cannot produce.
Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I steady your heart with what I have already declared. There is now no condemnation for those who are in My Son. I have set you right with Myself in Him, so accusations do not define you. Your life is hidden with the Messiah in Me, and I have placed My Spirit within you as the seal of what is finished and the strength for what is next.
When charges rise in your mind, remember the cross where your record was nailed and the empty tomb where death was defeated. The One who could accuse you gave Himself for you, and now He lives to intercede for you. I bring His victory to bear in your present, so you can count yourself dead to sin and alive to Me in the Anointed One. You belong to a people I chose in Him before the foundation of the world. In Him you stand holy and blameless with great joy.
I form you as part of a body, not as a lone struggler. Together you are My workmanship, created in the Messiah for good works I prepared. I complete what I begin. When temptation presses, I provide the way of escape. When shame whispers, I remind you of the blood that speaks a better word. Fix your gaze on My Son. As you behold Him, you are transformed. As you abide, you bear fruit that remains. As you trust, I make His life evident in ordinary minutes.
Real-Life Analogy
Think of the security tag on a store item that triggers alarms if it is not removed. Once a clerk releases the lock with the right key, the alarms are silent even if you walk past every sensor. Condemnation works like those alarms. Old triggers try to sound off. But the key has turned. At the cross, Jesus removed the claim against you. The sensors can shriek, yet they no longer have legal authority.
A simple practice, when a condemning thought pops up during your workday, do not argue with it in circles. Turn to the Lord within and say, Lord, I rest in Your finished verdict. Express Your steady joy in me as I write this email, and let Your kindness shape my words. Then send the note. No theatrics. Just responsive dependence, trusting His indwelling life to do what self-effort cannot.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank You that in Jesus the verdict is settled. Thank You that You justify and that the risen Lord intercedes for me. You have canceled the record against me, and You have placed Your Spirit within me. Today I count myself alive to You in Jesus. I welcome Your peace, Your joy, and Your love to be expressed through my words and decisions. I walk forward in the freedom You have already given.
Scripture References for the Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section
Romans 8:1, Romans 8:31-39, Romans 5:1, Romans 6:6-11, Romans 8:9-11, Romans 8:33-34, Colossians 2:13-15, Colossians 3:1-4, Ephesians 1:3-7, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 7:25, Hebrews 10:14, 1 John 2:1-2, John 5:24, John 15:4-5, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Zechariah 3:1-5, Revelation 12:10-11, Micah 7:19, Psalm 103:12, Philippians 2:13, Galatians 2:20