Lesson 11: No Longer Under God’s Condemnation
From Romans 8: There is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Jesus Christ and we will one day share in his glory by virtue of our union with him, but we must also share in his suffering. God allows suffering to come in to our lives as discipline for past sins. (God does not punish us, Christ already took the punishment for our sins.) And so we need to be prepared to accept hardship in our lives as discipline from God. He also allows suffering to come into our lives to display his power and glory in which case we are blessed if we are so used. But our suffering will not last forever; in due time it will end and we will enter our place of rest to claim our inheritance. Whatever happens to us happens for our good to bring us into the likeness of Christ. If God is for us, who can be against us, for God who did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for our salvation will not fail to give us every good thing to complete the work begun on the cross which is our sanctification. Satan cannot accuse us in heavenly places. Christ is there to petition our cause before God. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ; we are more than conquerors, nothing can separate us from the love of God; not depth, nor height, nor life nor death.