Now there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Hebrews 9:22

There is no condemnation for a believer.  For the sinner, condemnation is assured (John 3:18), but for those who are justified by faith, we live in the freedom of Christ (Galatians 5:1).

So we have a distress.  We find that we do sin.  And, this may bring guilt, pain, shame, regret.  Yet, these are not the right of the New Testament believer.  We come to a conjunction, a crossroads of choice.  Do I believe the Scriptures, or do I believe the pain of the shame, the guilt, and the condemnation.

Right here, we have a variety of ways to go, namely summed up by two–either to the cross, or away from it.

Take a person who does not like sin being pointed out in their lives.  Generally, it is because they have some, or they would not be opposed to it.  Indeed, all who are godly in Christ hate sin, in every form, for it is godliness to hate all wickedness.

But, how do we console ourselves?  What is the correct road of action to find the peace our souls long for and the Gospel provides?  Surely, it is none other than faith.

The truth of scripture remains the same.  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  So what do we do then?  We run to the Lord, and He releases us from our guilt, and cleanses us from our pain.

What is the other way?  We could counsel ourselves.  We could even take a verse like this and use it to try to shove our pain down until we can’t feel it anymore.  If this is what we do, it may seem to work for a while, but the truth always comes out, usually through anger, adultery, or some other sin.  It may even, eventually, lead us to true Faith in this verse, which would allow us to actually release us from the guilt of sin.

But, we must encounter the man Christ Jesus, and His blood atonement, for peace to come truly to our souls.

You see, it is a power encounter with Heaven.  It is not an intellectual transaction.  Right doctrine is fine, but an encounter with the Living Man is what the doctrine spells out, not merely just the facts.

Too many times, sin and guilt have been counselled away, to numbness.  Too often, the very things God gave us to drive us to Himself are told to be pushed down, into darkness (John 3:19), and away from the mind.

If we faced the cross, we would see our worth.  If we approached the bloody mess on Calvary as a mirror, as a picture of what we deserve, that crown of thorns and that marred vissage, then we begin to see a reflection of our own true self.

Every stripe in the back, every nail in the flesh, every curse word, every evil glance, all belonged to us, not Him.  He, the sinless perfect one, died once forever, so that all men might live.  And, we confess it with our mouths, but when we come to the pain of identity, where do we find our comfort?

The blood covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ denies every demon of self-lack, self-deprecation, self-mutilation, doubt, discouragement, and condemnation, EVER.  And, ONLY the blood.

Does someone we know, including ourselves, feel guilt over something?

Jesus said, when someone takes you to court, settle with him on the way.  Settle with your adversary quickly on the way, humiliate yourself if you were wrong, and bring the payment, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The solution is the problem.  Do you feel condemnation?  You should have, but not any more.  Were you guilty?  So were we all, bring it to the cross.  Keep it at the cross.  Is there some reason you feel you cannot?  If so, look fuller at the cross.  Realize that is His love, realize that is His intimate exchange.  Realize that is His gift to you, that you can never repay.  A sinner, forever condemned, set free to live again, and gloriously not in your old heart or flesh anymore, but in a new heart, with a new spirit, as a new creation!

For surely, He has given us a new heart, a new mind, and a new spirit has He put within us.  We are His, bought with a price, redeemed, justified by grace, just-as-if-i’d never sinned.  That’s right, those who had fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), have been restored to their original calling.

This is the problem of condemnation.  The issue isn’t avoiding the pain.  For the person who cringes at the preaching of condemnation of sin, he needs to face his own worthlessness without the excellent grace of Christ.  For the one who thinks that the gospel must be “love love” only, let me face his own depravity–he didn’t just sin, he was by nature, by inherent form, a sinner, with no good within him.  There wasn’t something salvageable.  There wasn’t something worthwhile.  It was worse than filthy rags.  There was nothing.  Condemnation, absolutely, was deserved.

And, it is in that, and only in that valley of troubles, that we come to the door of Hope, Jesus Christ.  It is only in that wretched state, that anyone finds any salvation, like it or not.  It is only in the blood Covenant of Jesus Christ that the problem of condemnation is solved.

Or, why else do people get mad when you call them a sinner?  Because the pain is too great.  Yet, the momentary pain of the scalpel in a doctor’s hands to heal, is considered worth the healing brought to the body as a whole.  So too, though we wound with our bold proclamation of sin, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring full conviction, we administer in that place the Balm of Gilead, the blood of Christ, and bring healing to the whole man.  What was suffered in a moment, is healed in the fullness, and as a newborn child in the arms covers over the pain of childbirth, so too, the offense to the sinner of the preaching of the cross is wiped away as a new birth has brought forth a sinner into salvation.

Jesus said, unless you hate father, and mother, and sister, brother, children, wife, even your own life, you could not be His disciple (Luke 14:26).  For what it’s worth, hate their fallen, fleshly nature enough to offend them and save their soul and spirit from hell.