Today's Passage - Romans 8:1-2

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 8:1-2   "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."   Paul made the great declaration of all time here: "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  In other word, we are no longer bound by the authority of darkness.  Those who don't believe in the Lord are basically living under the authority of sin and they have no freedom from sin.  Because they have no choice, they can only follow the trend of the world.  Why is your value system different from that of your parents?  Because the times have changes and trend is different now, and people can only follow different trend of the time.  If you lived back in the 60s, you would have become a hippie; but back in the 80s, you'd be a yuppie.  A real blessed person, who is not condemned in Christ, will no longer live under the authority of sin.   Before accepting the Lord, we didn't have the freedom of choice, but in Christ we are no longer bound by the authority of sin.  We are free and we can choose not to sin; instead, by God's help we can choose to be victorious.  Not being condemned in Christ is the result of salvation of Jesus.  Now that we are in the position to be free of sin, we can make choices with true freedom.  Did you know that in Christ you are free, and you are no longer bound by sin?  Many believers are constantly living in failure and weakness because they don't understand such truth.   There used to be a rabbit in our house that has always been caged.  One time I felt bad of the rabbit, so I opened the door of the cage to let it come out and freely jump around.  The rabbit, however, approached the door and hesitated to cross it, because it was used to living inside the cage and didn't think it should go out from it.  The outside world was completely foreign to it.  After a while, it slowly moved out of the cage and ran around outside of it freely.  Once it tasted freedom, it was certainly hard for it to go back to the cage.  Brothers and sisters, are you enjoying true freedom in Christ?  May the Spirit of the Lord open your eyes and show you what the freedom in Christ is, and also empower you to overcome sin.                                Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, we thank you because in you we are no longer condemned.  May the Spirit of the Lord help us to understand this truth, and help us to live with true freedom.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!