Experience of Grace #5 - No Condemnation
Description
Dr. Kurt Bjorklund unpacks Romans 8:1–11 to show that those in Christ are freed from condemnation while still being shaped by the Spirit's ongoing conviction. Learn to tell the difference between the accuser's voice and God's loving call to change—and why Christian community is essential to discerning the two.
Summary & Application
Hearing the Right Voice: The Difference Between Condemnation and Conviction
Most of us know the feeling. A quiet, nagging voice that whispers, "You haven't done enough. You're not enough. You could have done it better." It shows up after a hard conversation with a child, after a missed deadline, after scrolling past someone else's perfect-looking life on social media. It's the voice that compares our lowlights to everyone else's highlights and leaves us wondering if we're failing at the things we care about most.
In this message, part of the Experience of Grace series walking through Romans 6–11, Kurt opened by reading a poem called "Mother Guilt" by Julie Clark that captures this experience with painful honesty:
"Only we mothers know what we could have been had we been whole, what we missed when we weren't there. We spoke too soon or not enough. Overprotected or neglected. We were too harsh or too lax, too busy or too tired. We know."
But as Kurt pointed out, this voice isn't reserved for moms. "It's probably all of us in different ways." The question is: what do we do with it?
The Pinnacle Statement of Romans 8
Romans 8 opens with what Kurt called "one of the more famous verses in the Bible":
"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1–2)
This statement comes on the heels of Paul's anguished cry at the end of chapter 7: "Who will deliver me, wretched person that I am?" The answer, Kurt explained, is not that we have somehow attained a fault-free life. It's that "when you recognize your faults, you can say they are credited to Jesus Christ—and his righteousness is credited to you. Therefore, you don't need to feel condemned."
Condemnation Is Off the Table. Conviction Isn't.
Here's where the message turned a corner that's easy to miss. Romans 8 doesn't promise a life free from any inner voice calling us to change. It promises freedom from a very specific voice—condemnation. Conviction, on the other hand, is evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in us.
"If you resist conviction because you don't want to feel condemned, you will miss the voice of the Holy Spirit," Kurt warned. "And if you over-activate that, you will end up saying, 'Now I feel condemned.'"
A healthy spiritual life lives in the space where there is no condemnation but real conviction. John 16:8 names the Holy Spirit as the one who convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Without that convicting voice, there is no genuine spiritual life. With it—but without the foundation of Romans 8:1—we end up trapped in religion's exhausting cycle of trying to earn what has already been given.
How to Tell the Two Apart
Kurt offered three practical markers for discerning which voice is speaking:
1. The Source. Condemnation comes from the accuser (Revelation 12:10), our own inner voice, or the voices of others. Its message: "You aren't enough. God will never be pleased with you." Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit (John 16:8).
2. General vs. Specific. As Kurt put it, "Condemnation is general—a vague sense of 'I haven't, I'm not, I won't.' It attacks our identity and questions who we are. Conviction is specific—it addresses an individual act, something very direct about what we did."
He gave a vivid example: if you lose your temper, conviction says, "That act of anger was not of God." Condemnation says, "I'm just an angry person. I can't help it. That's who I am, and I'm never going to deal with it." One names an action. The other rewrites your identity.
3. What to Do With It. Condemnation calls for rejecting the lie and affirming the truth of Romans 8:1. Conviction calls for confession and change—which is exactly what 1 John 1:9 promises: God "is faithful and just to forgive us when we confess our sins."
You Can't Do This Alone
One detail Kurt pulled out of the text is easy to miss in English: the "you" in Romans 8:10–11 is plural. Paul is not writing to isolated individuals. He is writing to a church.
"We can't always tell the difference between condemnation and conviction without the help of people in our lives," Kurt said. Spirituality, he reminded us, "is not meant to be a solo journey." Whether through a small group, a serving team, or a few trusted friends, we need community to help us hear which voice is actually speaking—and to keep us honest when we mistake one for the other.
Kurt closed by sharing his own story. His mother passed away a year and a half ago after a long decline, and he spent years navigating the tension between caring for her and attending to the rest of his life. The healthy path forward, he discovered, was not silencing every inner prompting. It was learning to tell the difference between the conviction that said, "Call her today," and the condemnation that whispered, "You've never done enough."
That is the daily work of a Christian. Not the absence of any inner voice—but the careful, communal discernment of which voice is from God.
For Reflection
Think of an area where you regularly hear a critical inner voice. Is that voice general (attacking your identity) or specific (addressing a particular action)? What might that tell you about its source?
Who in your life can help you discern between the voice of the accuser and the voice of the Holy Spirit? If no one comes to mind, what is one step you could take this week toward that kind of community?
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Julie Clark — Poem titled "Mother Guilt" (Source)
"Let me go here once in a while, not often or too long. Only we mothers know what we could have been had we been whole, what we missed when we weren't there. We spoke too soon or not enough. Overprotected or neglected. We were too harsh or too lax, too busy or too tired. We know. So let us alone to grieve for a while. I promise I won't stay too long, or I might go all the way down."
Ray Ortlund — Prayer for Romans 8:1–4
"Oh Father, no possibility of my condemnation and certainty of the Spirit's sanctifying presence—how infinitely precious my gospel treasures are. The self-hatred and bewilderment of chapter 7 will not be my experience forever. You have not only saved me from the penalty of sin at the cross, but you have undertaken to save me from the power of my sin. Through the Spirit you give sanctification along with justification. I welcome both with an open heart. Come, Holy Spirit, create new life in me now. Fill me now. Produce your sweet fruit in me now. Prove in me your power over sin and lead me to new paths of righteousness."
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Opening & Announcements
Good morning. I want to offer my greetings and thanks to all the moms who are gathered—so many great moms around Orchard Hill. We wish you a Happy Mother’s Day. Let’s take a moment and pray, thanking God for moms and praying for them and what they do.
God, we thank you for the moms who are here today and those who aren’t here but are represented through the others who are. We thank you for the investment they’ve made—even if at times it may have been imperfect—and for the way it has marked all of us in different ways. We pray for the moms who are here today, that you would continue to give them strength, wisdom, and insight to parent well. As we are gathered today, we ask that you would help all of us to grow in our understanding of you, our affection for you, and our devotion to you. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Before I jump into the teaching today, I want to highlight a couple of things from our annual meeting this past week.
First, we have had a campus in Bridgeville for the last couple of years, and we’ve been looking for a space. Last week we were able to close on a building in South Pointe. After a couple years of looking around and vetting a lot of properties, it became clear this was the best option. God really opened a door for us. It’s an office building in South Pointe—so what was South Pointe became Bridgeville, and now becomes South Pointe again. We are excited about what this will mean for that campus and for ministry in that part of our city.
Second, a little earlier this year the people who run Heinz Chapel—the large chapel at Pitt—approached Orchard Hill and said, “We have Catholic Mass and Lutheran services. We would like to have a service that reflects what you all do in our chapel for college students.” We said yes. They’ve offered us a chance to hold a weekly worship gathering for college students on campus. It will likely be on a weeknight since the other services already occupy Sunday. Jonathan Thede, who has been leading our young adults at our Wexford campus, will head this up, along with Matt Wicks, who has been working with young adults at our Strip District campus. We’re excited for this opportunity. When you think about missions, here we have people from all over the world coming to our city, going to school right here, and we have an invitation to help people find and follow Jesus Christ on that campus.
Introduction
Today is Mother’s Day, and there’s always a choice for me on this weekend: do we continue the series we’re in, or do we take a break to embrace the topic of mothers? Today I’ve decided to continue the series. I recognize that some of you are immediately disappointed—you want a message on mothers, to be celebrated and encouraged. And I recognize that some of you are immediately relieved. Maybe you didn’t have a great mom. Maybe you wanted to be a mom and you’re not. Maybe there’s been pain. What I want to do today applies to mothers, but it also applies more broadly.
I want to start by reading a poem called “Mother Guilt” by Julie Clark:
Let me go here once in a while, not often or too long. Only we mothers know what we could have been had we been whole, what we missed when we weren’t there. We spoke too soon or not enough. Overprotected or neglected. We were too harsh or too lax, too busy or too tired. We know. So let us alone to grieve for a while. I promise I won’t stay too long, or I might go all the way down.
I don’t know how that strikes you if you’re a mom. But my guess is—and what I’ve heard—is that there are moments for moms and dads in life where you have a nagging sense of, “I haven’t done it right. I haven’t done enough. I could have done it better. I should have done it better.” That nagging voice is sometimes very difficult to navigate.
In fact, one of the things that makes it hard is that we live in an age of social media. We often compare our lowlights to other people’s highlights. You see other people’s posts—the picture of the perfect family on vacation, everybody in matching outfits, all smiling. And you say, “My family didn’t have that moment.” Of course, what you didn’t see is that just before the picture was taken, they were all yelling at each other. Then they all smiled. That’s what gets posted.
But it isn’t just moms and dads who feel this—it’s probably all of us in different ways. And what we often need in those moments is someone from outside of us to tell us we’re doing well, that we’re doing it well enough, that it’s going to be okay. Sometimes Mother’s Day is a day to affirm your mom and say, “You have done a lot of things really well. Thank you.” That’s helpful. But what’s challenging about needing a voice from outside is that we don’t always get it—and sometimes we don’t believe it even when we do. And as a result, we still feel a vague sense of, “I haven’t done enough. I’m not enough. I’m not doing what I really set out to do.”
Romans 8:1–11
This is part of what happens in Romans 8. We’ve been looking at the book of Romans—especially in this series called “The Experience of Grace,” which covers Romans 6 through 11. Today we come to chapter 8, verses 1 through 11.
Chapter 8, verse 1 is one of the more famous verses in the Bible—certainly one of the most famous in Romans. It is, in many ways, a pinnacle statement coming after chapters 6 and 7, which talk about this voice that says, “I haven’t done it well enough.” Toward the end of chapter 7, the Apostle Paul says, “Who will deliver me, wretched person that I am?” And then he comes to chapter 8 and says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” This is an amazing statement filled with hope.
Romans 8:1–11 reads:
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”
Paul is reaching back to everything taught in Romans and saying: the reason you can say there’s no condemnation is because Jesus Christ is the sin offering. It isn’t because you have somehow attained a level without faults. It’s because when you recognize your faults, you can say they are credited to Jesus Christ—and his righteousness is credited to you. Therefore, you don’t need to feel condemned.
Condemnation vs. Conviction
What I’d like to do is talk about the difference between condemnation and conviction—because what this text really teaches is this: there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but if you are in Christ Jesus, there will be conviction. The Holy Spirit will convict you of things. And if there is no conviction of the Holy Spirit, then you don’t have Christ. The ability to discern the difference between condemnation and conviction is key to a healthy spiritual life.
If you resist conviction because you don’t want to feel condemned, you will miss the voice of the Holy Spirit. And if you over-activate that, you will end up saying, “Now I feel condemned.”
Think of it as a two-by-two chart:
• No condemnation + Conviction = Healthy spirituality. You have no condemnation because you understand that there is no condemnation for anyone in Christ Jesus. And the convicting work of the Holy Spirit is still at work in you. This is where we want to be.
• No condemnation + No conviction = No apparent work of the Holy Spirit. There’s no conscience, no sense of God’s moral law. This can lead someone to become very narcissistic with no sense of right and wrong.
• Condemnation + No conviction = A vague sense that you are not enough, that God isn’t pleased with you, that your life isn’t adding up. This can be the voice of the accuser—from Revelation 12:10, where we’re told Satan is the accuser of people. It can come from our own inner voice or from the voices of others.
• Condemnation + Conviction = This is often where religion is. A person with a constant sense of not having done right, and when they feel that, it sinks into a deeper, damaging voice within them.
Romans 8:2–11 talks about the Holy Spirit bringing life. John 16:8–9 tells us the Spirit is the one who brings conviction about sin, righteousness, and judgment. So the Holy Spirit is the source of genuine conviction, and without this, there is no genuine spiritual life.
Here’s how this works in practice: If you are angry, conviction says, “That act of anger was not of God.” Condemnation says, after the fact, “Since I was angry, I’m just an angry person. I can’t help it. That’s who I am, and I’m never going to deal with it.”
If you’re in an environment where honesty is not valued and you cut a corner, conviction shines a light on it every now and then and has you say, “I’m not sure this squares with being a person of integrity.” Condemnation says, “I guess I’m just not an honest person. God will never be pleased with how I live because I struggle with this.”
How to Tell the Difference
So how do you know the difference between condemnation and conviction? There are some significant distinctions.
1. Their Source
Condemnation comes from Satan, the accuser (Revelation 12:10). It also comes from our own inner voice and from others. It says: “You aren’t enough. You haven’t done enough. God will never be pleased with you.” Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit—something God prompts inside of us (John 16:8; John 3:17).
2. General vs. Specific
Condemnation is general—a vague sense of “I haven’t, I’m not, I won’t.” It attacks our identity and questions who we are. Conviction is specific—it addresses an individual act, something very direct about what we did.
3. What to Do With It
With condemnation, we need to reject the lie and affirm the truth: Romans 8:1—“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” A note: if you have not yet trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you feel a sense of dread about your relationship with God, that could be the conviction of the Holy Spirit. For those not yet in Christ Jesus, condemnation is on the table. But if you have come to Christ, you can say with confidence: “There is now no condemnation for me in Christ Jesus.”
With conviction, what is called for is confession and change. When the Spirit convicts you of something that isn’t right in your life, you admit it to God and change directions. This is 1 John 1:9: he is faithful and just to forgive us when we confess our sins. This is also Romans 8:2 and following—the Holy Spirit is working in you in such a way that you will respond to God’s promptings.
The Need for Community
There is another thought here. In Romans 8:1–11, especially verses 10–11, the “you” that shows up is plural in the original language. When we read “you” in English, we have to know from context whether it’s singular or plural. Here, the “yous” are plural—in part because Paul is writing to the church at Rome. But I also believe that in talking about healthy spiritual life, he is helping us understand an important dynamic: this is not a solo journey.
We can’t always tell the difference between condemnation and conviction without the help of people in our lives. I know some of us appreciate virtual church—there are Sundays where eating waffles and watching church from home has a certain appeal. But part of the idea of community is that you have relationships with people who can help you discern, in those moments, the difference between condemnation and conviction.
Obviously this happens through groups, serving teams, seasonal studies, or just being in relationship with people. The point is that spirituality is not meant to be a solo journey. You need people in your life who, when you say, “I’m feeling this”—can help you discern whether it’s the voice of the accuser or the voice of the Holy Spirit.
You won’t normally phrase it that formally. What will happen is you’ll sit down with a friend and say, “My marriage has this struggle right now,” and you’ll start to have a conversation. And by the way, just because someone’s around church doesn’t mean they automatically understand this. Sometimes church friends can encourage you to ignore conviction in much the same way people outside the church can. But often in a community—a small group—when you start to share your experiences, you begin to hear what is of the Spirit of God and what is of the accuser. And we need to be able to discern that to be healthy spiritually.
Part of that is a willingness to share—to say, “Here’s what’s really happening in my soul” with a group of people, and to invite them to speak into your life. Just being in a group doesn’t automatically make that happen. But Christian community helps us discern these voices.
A Personal Illustration
I was thinking about this the other day—not in the context of condemnation regarding salvation, but in the context of that vague sense of not being enough. My mom passed away a year and a half ago, so this is the second Mother’s Day with her gone. She lived in Wisconsin for many years, and we moved her here about nine years ago. For the last seven or eight years of her life, she was in declining health and in need of care.
When she first moved here, she came to church with us. She could drive a little. Then she couldn’t drive, and we would bring her sometimes. Then she couldn’t walk. Then came a cancer diagnosis, and then it just became increasingly high need. Any of you who’ve had aging parents know a little bit about this journey.
Here was my journey: I felt constant conflict. I want to care for my mom. I want to be present. But I have a lot of other things in my life that still need my attention. I still had kids at home. And my mom, for her part, was generally—I say generally—really good about not throwing guilt my way. Every now and then she couldn’t help herself and would say, “Haven’t seen you in a while. Where have you been?”
But here’s my point—and again, this isn’t about salvation or Romans 8:1’s ultimate condemnation, but about that everyday voice of “you haven’t done enough.” Even in that situation, it’s really significant to be able to discern: What is the voice of conviction saying here? As a person who wants to be present for my mom, what does that look like today? Maybe today I can go make a visit. I could call her. I could do this for her.
And then there’s the voice of no condemnation: You’ve done what you can. You have other priorities, and it’s okay to have other priorities in your life. It’s a very practical example of the difference between these voices.
Closing Prayer
Ray Ortlund has written a book on Romans with prayers and reflections. This is the prayer he wrote for Romans 8:1–4:
Oh Father, no possibility of my condemnation and certainty of the Spirit’s sanctifying presence—how infinitely precious my gospel treasures are. The self-hatred and bewilderment of chapter 7 will not be my experience forever. You have not only saved me from the penalty of sin at the cross, but you have undertaken to save me from the power of my sin. Through the Spirit you give sanctification along with justification. I welcome both with an open heart. Come, Holy Spirit, create new life in me now. Fill me now. Produce your sweet fruit in me now. Prove in me your power over sin and lead me to new paths of righteousness.
Let’s pray together.
God, I ask in this moment that you would help those of us who are gathered to sense the voice of your Holy Spirit. For some of us, that might be convicting us—as John 16 says—of our need for you, because we see sin, we see what righteousness is, we see judgment. Help us to run to what Romans 8:1–4 says: that there is no condemnation if we’re in Christ Jesus. It is what Jesus did that gives us that freedom. And help us to not just leave it there and say we don’t need any conviction, but to see that the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives—evidence of Christ in our lives—is indeed having that ongoing voice that points us to you, and to respond over and over to the prompting and convicting voice of the Spirit without taking on the mantle of condemnation. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
It’s great to be together. Have a great weekend.
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