the message tonight. We want
to remember Eric and Angela and your prayers, please. Ask God's mercy to continue upon
them. Again, I spoke with Eric this
last week. He's coherent and everything.
He's doing, sounded really good. But I'm sure that this is still
taking a toll on them as they continue to go from doctor to
rehab. And so pray for Eric and And
Angela, ask your prayers tonight for me. I don't know how long
my voice is going to carry. I'm just kind of inching along. It was great this morning. And
then we sang happy birthday to my
mother. And that went well. It was surprisingly well. I don't
know. Maybe that's when my voice goes,
when I sing well, you know it's going out. So it's not normal. that this morning. Cheryl's not
feeling well, so pray for her, if you will. Remember her in
your prayers. You guys go back to the spring. Is that when y'all go back to
Pennsylvania? Okay, everything went well with
y'all's appointment. Praise God, that's good. Continue
to pray for them and their children. Any other requests? Jill, remember
her in prayer. Anyone else? Oh, that's right. I've been running
around like a chick with my head cut off. She's not being well. Pray for Jean. I'm glad to see you here. I'm
glad to see that God has been gracious to bring us together.
And I just want, for your encouragement, I've written two letters today
from people that I don't know. One's in Utah, the other's in
Oregon. I have no idea. They're obviously listening to
the gospel where they're at, and this is just to show that
these are not it. There are many. I often think, I know it is the
spirit of God, and I'm not trying to downplay that at all. It is
the spirit of God using his word as he pleases. And that's it. That's all you can say. There's
nothing special about this man. There's nothing special. I think it shows the desperation,
the famine that we live in. There is hardly any preaching
of the gospel. There's a lot of religion and
a lot of noise, a lot of sights and sounds and lights and dazzle. And just few that will take this
word honestly as it stands. And I'm sad for that. I would
that there's a preacher on every corner. I would that everybody
had a church they could walk next door and find a place to
worship. I wish you could. I'm not here
to win friends and influence people. I'm not here to do that.
I don't do that. That's not my job. I'm here and called to simply
declare what God says. That's it. That's it. That's all I want to do. I want
to tell you exactly what God says. You don't want to hear
my opinions about it. You don't want to hear what I
think about it. Doesn't matter. What does God say? That's it.
What to God there'd be men out there to tell you exactly what
God says and not give you an opinion or thought about it.
But it's not the case. Most people make it so complicated
And because they don't know it. If it's complicated, trust me,
they don't know it either. If it's too complicated for them,
they don't understand it either. I want to make this as simple
and as plain as I possibly can. That's it. I want to tell you
what it is. But I can't put it in your heart.
That's not my job either. I can't make this effectual to
you. I can't make you understand this. That's the work of the Spirit
of God. If you can understand this book, if you can understand
this Word, this is worth more than all the
riches of this world. It's to understand what God says. And to know this is talking to
me. This is not just talking to the
masses. This is speaking to me. His Word is for me. It's astounding. And so I pray
that God would make this effectual tonight to the hearts of everyone
that hears. That's my prayer, always, always,
is that God would take this word and make it effectual. So pray
that. Beg for God to do that, because that's the only thing
that can happen. It can't happen any other way. Any other thing need to be mentioned,
requests, prayers? Let's go to him in prayer. Most Holy Father, thank you for the ability to
come and pray, lay our cares and thoughts and concerns at
your feet. You're more compassionate and
caring than we could possibly imagine. And I know this, that you know
more about us than we know about ourselves. You know the deep things, the
hidden things of the heart that we won't show anyone else. You see the thoughts and the
imaginations of our hearts. And I know when we think of these
things, it causes us to run and cower, try to hide. But Father in Christ, I beg you
to show us, those who are in Christ, those who trust Christ,
show us what great things you've done for us, that we need not
run and cower, but rather come boldly into the presence of thy
throne, seeking mercy and grace for time, trouble, and need to
help us, Father, we confess we are a weak people. We are a feeble
people. We cannot help ourselves. We
need you to help us. We need you to care for us. We
need you to reveal these things of thy Word to us. And I beg
you to do that tonight. I beg you. I plead with you to
do it. To this man and to everyone else. Show Christ to us. Comfort
the hearts of your people. I beg you, Father, if there be
any outside of Christ, that you would give them faith. Give them
a heart by which they may love and serve you and believe. I pray, Father, for these that
are sick. We lay them before you, even as they did when you
came in this world, Father. Even when Christ came into this
world, They laid the sick before Him. And that's what we do tonight.
We lay them out before You, pleading for mercy that You'd heal. That
You'd touch the bodies of the sick in our congregation and
raise them up. Our friends, our family, those
we care about. They're in Your hands, Father.
And I beg You to be merciful in this. Give me liberty tonight. Open my lips. Open my heart that
I might Preach the word to these that have come to hear. And I
beg you to open their heart, let them receive it. I pray you do this not just for
this congregation, but for everywhere your gospel is preached. We pray
for them as well. I ask this in Jesus' name and
for his sake. Amen. All right, take your Bibles and
turn back with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Tonight we'll
be looking at verses 1-9, the Lord willing. I may not get through,
I may just have to stop for a second, but I just want to make it as
clear as I possibly can. I've entitled this message, A
Comfort and a Distinction. The apostle gives comfort. The very first verse of chapter
8 is a comforting text. to believers in Christ, he says,
there is therefore now, right now, right now, no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin death. Now we know this in the original
letter there's no divisions, chapter verse divisions. It's
a letter. You don't do that with your letters.
You don't write a chapter and verse in your letters and they
didn't write that here. This is made for reference. It's
easy and we enjoy these things. I told you turn to Romans 8 verse
1 and you knew where to go. They're helpful. But sometimes
they're a distraction, because the apostle is not starting a
new subject here. It is a continuation, or rather
a conclusion, of what he had said in the previous chapters. And I want to get a run and start
at this. I want you to see what all he
had said before that led up to this point. You remember back in chapter
5. Chapter 5, he tells us this, that we are all born dead. Chapter 5 and verse 12, wherefore,
as by one man's sin entered into the world, result, and death
by sin, so death passed. upon all men, listen, for all
had sinned. You realize this, that you sinned
in Adam. When Adam sinned, you sinned.
He was your representative man. And when he died, you died. That's why you were born dead.
You were born spiritually dead. And so likewise, salvation must
come by a representative. If you are dead, what can you
do? Nothing. You're dead. What spiritually
can you do? Nothing. You're dead in sins. That's how you're born. So in
order for us to be saved, it must be by the work of a representative
man. Look at chapter 5 and verse 19. For by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners. So, this is how many are made
righteous. So, by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. So this is how you're saved.
If anybody's saved, you're saved by a work of another man. You
can't save yourself. It's a point. So then he tells
us this work is a work of grace. The work of grace means this.
It's unmerited. You didn't earn it. You didn't
deserve it. You weren't even alive. It was
an act of grace, God giving his son to save his people from their
sins. Well, in chapter 6, now he's
going to answer the legalist. The legalist will say, well,
if it's all of grace and it's not of works, then you're going
to just sin. That's what you're going to do.
Since you're saved by grace without any work you've done, then that's
just going to say, well, if where sin abound, grace did much more
abound, then you're going to say, well, let's sin so grace
can abound more. What does a believer say to that?
God forbid. How dare you think such things?
That's not what the believer thinks. Paul says in chapter
6 something very profound. Look at verse 2. How shall we
that are dead to sin? live any longer therein. You
that believe, listen to me, you're dead to sin. Now what does that
mean, I'm dead to sin? It means I'm dead to its guilt. You see, Jesus Christ, and he
tells us how we're dead to sin, he said in verse 8, he said,
Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth
no more, Death hath no more dominion over him, for in that he died,
he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
God." Likewise. You see, Christ, when He died
to sin, He only died once to sin. And now then, He's alive
unto God, never again will sin and its guilt come on Him. He only did that once. And now
that he died, he rose from the dead and ascended to the Father,
and now there is no more sin for him to pay for. He's paid
it all. Look what Paul says. The same way. Likewise, impute
also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. In other words, sin's
guilt will never come on you again. This is a glorious thing,
isn't it? To the believer, it's a glorious
thing. The guilt of my sin will never come on me again. just
like it won't ever come on Christ again. And then in chapter 7, the apostle's
going to answer these objections again, because the legalists
are going to come and say, well, that's great. My sin's gone. Christ
died for my sin. It's all by grace. Now then,
how do I live? Liga is going to come and say,
what rule of life do I live by? Surely now we've got to go back
to the law to tell me how to live. Paul is going to tell you
exactly the opposite. In chapter 7, he likens the law
to us as a marriage. When we were born, we were married
to the law. Everybody was under the law. When you're born in
this world, you're under God's law. I don't care if you like
it. It doesn't matter. You're under the law of God. You're
married to it. It is an unforgiving and merciless
husband. That's what it is. It is a husband
that will only show you your guilt. That's all the law can
do. The law can only condemn you. But guess what? This is the glory of being a
believer, is that we're not only dead to the guilt of sin, we're
dead to the law. Now imagine you're under the
sentence of murder and then you go to the electric chair and
you die. What more can the law do to you? The law has nothing
to say to you. You died. And that's exactly
what happened when Christ died. You that believe when Christ
died, you died. Therefore, you're dead to the
law. And now then, he's using that illustration of that woman
married to the law. Well, if the law is dead to us,
we're free to marry another. And guess who we marry? Christ. The law brings us to Christ.
That's all the law can do. And then now Paul in chapter
7 gives his own personal illustration. His own personal illustration
of this, he said, you know, I was alive without the law once. I
thought I was doing pretty good. Nobody was better than me. But when the power of the Spirit
used the law lawfully, when the power of the Spirit showed me
what the law really said, I died. I found out that the law was
not to life, but to death. The law cannot save me. The law cannot help me. No matter
how sincere you are, Paul was sincere, wasn't he? He was a
sincere man to obey the law, and yet it doesn't matter. You cannot measure up. This is
what God reveals to everyone he saves. He first exposes our
sin. Paul said, when the law came,
he said, verse 9 at chapter 7, he said, I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
And the commandment, which I thought was ordained to eternal life,
I found a death. And notice verse 14. Verse 14,
he says this, for we know. Now he's talking to somebody
who has the same experience he has, a sinner. saved by grace,
one that's come to Christ. You come to Christ? You believe
on Christ? Listen to what Paul says about
himself, and you can identify with this. Look what he says.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not, and for what I would, that I do not. But what I hate is
what I do. Why is this? If I'm dead to sin,
if I'm dead to the law like Paul said I am, then why in the world
do I struggle with sin? If I'm free from sin's guilt,
and the law has no hold over me anymore, then why in the world
do I still struggle with sin? Paul expounds this by telling
you, look, when I would do good, because that's the heart of the
believer, to desire to do good. When I would do good, I found
a principle, something, a law, that's a maxim that I can't change. When I would do good, evil is
present with me. For how to perform that which
is good I find not. Can you find a way to do good
without evil? Anybody found a way to do good without evil? Now listen, if you have, you're
deceived. You're just lying to yourself. Paul said, I can't find it. I
can't find a way to do good without sin. But the good news is this,
when I sin, it's no longer me. It's me, but it's not me. It's
my flesh. You see, now, you that believe,
consider what Paul has said, you're dead to the guilt of sin,
you're dead to the law, and now you are a person of two distinct
natures living in one body. You have a nature that is born
of God. You know when Nicodemus, he told
Nicodemus, you must be born again. What he was talking about is
the new birth. God creates in us something that wasn't there.
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 24 tells us to put on the new
man, which is created. Now listen, that's amazing, isn't
it? Created? There's something created? God
still creates? Yes! He creates a new man. which is after God in true holiness. When you're born again of the
Spirit, you are given a new man that is absolutely holy. He cannot sin. Now, you're not
going to look in the mirror and say, well, I can see that. You
can't see it. Why? Sin is still mixed with
all I do. Why? We still have the old man
with us. What does this create? It creates
warfare. warfare, a struggle within the
heart of the believer, a warfare. And Paul comes to the end of
himself in verse 24 and look at this. He says, I'm I'm still
carnal. The old man is still carnal. He says, Oh, wretched man, that
I am. Notice that, that's right then.
When Paul wrote that, when he put that down, he made it present
tense. He said, the old wretched man
that I am right now at this very moment, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Now, I explained this on Sunday. This has reference to a Roman
punishment where they would take a dead corpse and tie it around
the neck of a man and he had to carry that corpse until it
rotted off. That's exactly how every believer
feels in this life. We desire to serve God and we
have a rotting corpse dragging us down to the earth so that
we cannot do what we would. And we cry, a wretched man that
I am. Who's going to deliver me from
this body of death? And he turns around, and he gives
the answer, and he said, I thank God. You know, there's hope.
Even though I'm weighed to the earth and tied to it, there's
hope that I'm soon going to be delivered. Why? Because God promised.
God promised. Listen, this doesn't cause us
to escape this trouble. Don wrote this a long time ago. My brother wrote that hymn book. He said this, two armies within
my soul. Both flesh and spirit seek control. Both grace and sin resolve to
reign. This daily warfare within maintain. Oh, what a paradox I feel, a
heart of flesh, a heart of steel. In love with sin, With sin at
war, myself I love, myself abhor. Grace fills my soul with heavenly
joy, but sin my happiness annoys. Though sin, sin resolves to hold me fast,
grace shall prevail, or sin at last. Do you have this struggle? I'm not talking about a moral
struggle where you're trying to be a little bit better person.
That's not the struggle I'm talking about. I'm talking about a struggle
where you know that you are nothing from head to toe but sin. I have nothing to offer God whatsoever. And all my hope rests in Christ
alone. That's it. All my hope. In my hands no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I to this fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. It's not a one-time thing for
me. This is a daily, constant warfare within my own soul. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Here it is. I thank God. He had hope. I thank God. God promised to deliver me. And what's my hope that God's
going to deliver me because of this sin that I'm constantly
pouring out of every pore of my body? How do I have any hope
that God is not going to cast me off? How do I hope that maybe
yesterday he's a little bit merciful but tomorrow he might just throw
me away? How do I know that that's not
going to happen? Look, look what he says, I thank
God through, here's the grounds, here's my hope, through Jesus
Christ. Our Lord. So then here's the
conclusion, with my mind I myself serve the law of God. With the
new man, I serve the law of God. He can't do anything else. But
with the mind, with the flesh, what is it? The law of sin. And
so in that struggle, he's going to give you the Spirit of God
now. He's going to come to you, and he's going to comfort you.
This is a word of the Spirit of God to every believer. Listen to me. Even though you
struggle and you fail. This is wonderful. Even though
you struggle and you fail. Daily, constantly you fail. Here is your comfort. There is
therefore now no condemnation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ
and because of Him, God in no way condemns His people. It's astounding because daily
I condemn myself. Daily I condemn myself. I see daily the sin that I commit. I feel it. Within my bones I
feel the sin that I despise and hate with everything in me. And yet he says, there is therefore
now no condemnation. No condemnation. And you know I like to harp on
the word now. There is therefore now no condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation. And you can do this until the
day this body rots off into the earth and you ascend to the glorious
heavens that God has prepared in Christ. You can say that there
is no condemnation. No condemnation. There is not
a sweeter word to the believer who is overwhelmed by his own
flesh than this, God does not condemn you. Now it is always the mind of
the self-righteous man to condemn. It is always the mind of the
legalist to try to take some poor believer who is overwhelmed
by his sin and flesh and somehow put him under subjection to the
law. That's always the mind of the
flesh. Listen, it is not the place of man, but the place of
God to condemn. And listen, what I mean by that
is we do preach a right view of sin. I could tell you a right
view of sin, and we should. We never condone sin, not in ourselves, not in the
Church. We don't condone that and call
that humility. They did that in the Church of
Corinth, remember? They had that guy that was in
an incestuous relationship in the church. And they thought,
well, we'll just be so gracious and just kind of accept and move
along and think nothing's wrong with it. No, that's not what
we're saying either. But real conviction comes only
by the power of the Spirit. It only comes by the power of
the Spirit, and listen, it only comes through the preaching of
the gospel. Conviction of sin don't come any other way. The
gospel is the way God uses to convince us of sins. And so when
we are struggling and we are brought by God to feel our sin,
it is this that's the medicine. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. There is therefore now. Now why is this? You sin. you feel the guilt of it, you
know you've done it. If you're honest, you know it.
How then could God not condemn me? How could God be just and still
not condemn my sin? When I do, I condemn me. How could He not? Well, simply because of this.
because Christ Jesus has already been condemned for it. Christ Jesus has already been
condemned. Behold what great salvation that
Christ has wrought in us by taking our sin. He took the condemnation
of God and bare it on the cross and forever satisfied it. Therefore, God being just and
justly satisfied, He cannot ever condemn me." When you say God cannot do something,
you better be careful. You better be very careful when
you say God cannot do something. Listen, God cannot twice demand
payment for sin. Can He? Is that just? Can God
demand twice payment? No. He cannot demand payment
at the hands of His Son and then demand payment from me. That's
unjust. This is how God cannot condemn
me is because my sin has already been condemned. It's already
been punished. God's been satisfied. Over in
Zechariah chapter 3, I love this illustration because it's very
beautiful. There's a man, Joshua, who's a high priest, and they
had been in captivity. And now that they had been brought
back, and Joshua, he's standing before God, and he's in these
filthy garments. He's a priest. He's supposed
to have the beautiful garments on. He's supposed to be ready
to offer sacrifices and worship God. But he's in these rags. And he stands before God. And
Satan stands at his right hand ready to point the finger. You can just see him chomping
at the bits ready to just condemn this man. Look at him. Look at
him. He's not dressed in the priestly
robes. He's a sinner. Look how vile
he is. Just ready to condemn him. You
know what Satan gets to say? Nothing. Scripture says the angel of the
Lord, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, stood by and he said,
Is this not a brand pluck from the burning? Isn't this mine?
This is mine. He intercedes for him. And he tells him, he said, take
those filthy garments off of him, wash him, and put on the
priestly robes. Wash his head. Put a crown on
his head. What a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ and our salvation. We're standing there in a filthy
rags of our sins, ready to be condemned to death. And what
does Christ do? He comes along and He says, He's
not to be condemned. Instead, take His sin off of
Him and put my righteousness on Him. Take my crown and put it on His
head. This is what it means when he
says, there is therefore now no condemnation. Because nobody
can accuse you. God is already satisfied with
Christ's offering. But notice this. This, now he's
going to make a distinction. He gives you the comfort. You
that struggle with sin, that's your comfort. There's no condemnation.
And there's nothing in the world that can ever bring it back,
seeing that it's already done. Now, a distinction is made. This is not for everybody. This comfort is not for everybody. Look at your text. There is therefore
now no condemnation, listen, to them which are in Christ Jesus. And this is the distinction,
this is how you're going to tell the difference. Look at this.
Who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. There's
a distinction made. First of all, who then are in
Christ Jesus? Only these, if you are in Christ
Jesus, you may have this comfort. If you are not in Christ Jesus,
you may not have this comfort. It's not yours. Now, if I wrote
a letter, a love letter to my wife, If you were another woman and
you read that letter and you thought, wow, he really loves
me. No, I wasn't writing to you. It was very specifically designed
for her. Now you may have read it, but
it wasn't for you. This letter is only for God's
elect. That's it. The gospel is not
for everyone. The gospel is for God's people.
Now it's preached to everybody. I'll preach to anybody. Anybody
want to listen? I'll preach it. But specifically, this gospel
is intended for only his people. Who are they? Well, they're the
ones in Christ Jesus. Now whatever that means, that's
the ones. That's the ones. What does it
mean to be in Christ Jesus? First of all, these people were
put in Christ. They didn't jump in Christ, they
didn't get in Christ. It's not a matter of decision,
well, do I want to be in Christ or do I don't want to be in Christ?
It's not a matter of will. God put us, if you are in Christ,
listen, God put you there. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1,
look and see this is true. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, look
at verse 30. Tell me who put you in Christ?
Read the text and tell me who put you there. But of God are
you in Christ Jesus? Anybody misunderstand that? You
in Christ? Who put you there? God said He
did. But of God are you in Christ
Jesus? And notice this. Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Salvation. God made Him to be all our salvation. Now God put you in Him and God
made Him to be your Savior. Now what do you have to do with
it? Nothing. Why? Verse 31. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That no flesh should
glory in his presence. That's why he did it. That you
should have no glory. If you're saved, God's going
to do it. That's it. The only one that can put you
in Christ is God. That's it. Do you not realize
you're helpless to put yourself in God? In Christ. Now the world
will tell you you can. Religion will tell you you can.
All you got to do is come down to the front, make a decision
for Jesus, and then you'll be in Christ. Find it. You won't find it. I just read
it to you. If you're in Christ, God put
you there. Isn't that astounding? Why? So that you don't have anything
to glory in. You don't get to brag. You don't get to boast.
You don't get nothing. God puts you in Christ. And God
made Christ to be all your salvation. But God also purposed that everyone
he put into Christ should experience it. This is glorious. I didn't know he put me in Christ.
I was born dead in sin. I didn't have any clue he put
me in Christ. Matter of fact, I was running
the opposite way. I was going against it. I was
doing everything I could to get away from it. I didn't know He
put me in Christ, but He did. He put me in Christ before the
world began for this purpose, that I should experience it,
that I should know it, that I'm in Christ. And this is when He
sends the Holy Spirit to give us the new life. And it's by the power of the
Holy Spirit then we are made partakers of the divine nature. That new nature I was talking
about that causes us to war with the old one? That's the work
of God. That's the evidence of this,
that I'm in Christ. If I have a new heart, a new
mind, if I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, faith is the evidence
of life. It's not the cause of it. It's
the evidence of it. Are you breathing? You're alive, you are. Listen,
spiritually, if you're alive, what are you doing? You're believing. That's the evidence I'm in Christ. It's faith in Christ. The new
heart, a new mind. And we who believe, we confess
this, that I am saved because of my union with Him. Our Lord made that illustration
of the tree and the branches, right? He says, except you abide
in me, you cannot produce fruit. If a branch were cut off from
a tree and you lay it on the ground, how much fruit will it
produce? Nothing. It has no life. It has no source
of life. But you that believe, your source
of life is Christ Himself. You are in union with Jesus Christ,
and therefore you have life by virtue of that union. When we
baptize someone, this is a picture of it. When somebody is being
baptized, it doesn't save them, it doesn't have anything to do
with their salvation. What it does is, it is confessing to everybody
else that I'm one with Him. When he died, I died. That's
what it's saying. When he died, when he was buried,
I was buried with him. When he rose up again and he
had no more sin to pay, I rose in him. I'm with him. I'm with him. That's what we
confess as believers. We are one with him. I am in
him. Why? God put me there. How do
I know I'm in Him? Because I believe on Him. Faith
is the evidence of that new life. Faith is the evidence of it.
And notice this. Go back to your text and look
at this. He says, to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. What in the world
does he mean by that? Who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Now, again, your legalist will
take you back to the law. He's going to say, well, to walk
by the Spirit, you've got to go back to the law. Galatians chapter 3 tells us
this very plainly. The law is not a faith. These two are distinct things.
Those that are walking after the Spirit, how are you walking?
How are you walking? You're walking by faith. You
walk by faith. That's how Abraham walked, didn't
he? Abraham didn't have the law of Moses. He daily walked by faith. This
is how we walk, daily. This struggle within me constantly
causes me doubts and fears and troubles and griefs and sorrows. All of the circumstances around
me seem to be going in the opposite direction of all the promises
that God has made to me. And yet what? Do I trust how
I feel or what I think? No. I believe God. I trust Christ. My hope of not being condemned
is being in union with Him. And that's how we live. We walk
by faith. Look at this. He said, For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. This phrase, the law of the Spirit
of life. I know that's kinda troubling.
All it means is the gospel. The gospel. What is the law of
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus? It's the gospel. When you believe, what was the
means that God chose by which you should believe? The gospel. It was the simplicity
of preaching the gospel that convinced me of my sin and me. And it was by that gospel I was
delivered from the law of sin and death. This is the means God uses to
deliver his people is through the preaching of the gospel.
And what is the gospel? Look at the next verse. Here's
what we walk by. Here's what we live by. Look,
verse 3. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh. You believe that? Now, the law is not weak. The weakness was me. I couldn't
obey it. The law could not save me, not
because the law's at fault, but because of my flesh. I couldn't
obey it. For what the law could not do
and is weak through the flesh, what happened? God sending his
own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. How do I know that I'm not going
to be condemned? Sin is condemned already. Where? When Jesus Christ came into this
world, I like that phrase, the likeness of sinful flesh. Believe
it or not, some people use that verse and say, well, he really
wasn't a man because he's in the likeness. No. When Christ
came into this world, he looked like every other sinner. The
problem was, he didn't have any sin. He looked like everybody
else. He came as a man. It's astounding. God became a man. Now why in the world would God
become a man? What is the purpose of that?
Look, for sin. His elect, they sinned. And their sin separated them
from God. So God sent His Son to remedy
that problem. He came for sin. And listen, sin was condemned
in His flesh. When Jesus hung on the cross,
he didn't just die and suffer a crucifixion of Roman torture.
He died under the wrath of God. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, died
under the wrath of God Almighty. When God made him to be sin,
he died under the full measure of God, without mercy. God showed
Christ no mercy. And my sin was condemned. Now
this is what the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has revealed
to me, is that my sin was condemned in Christ on Calvary. This is
the gospel message that I believe. This is the gospel message by
which I am free from the law of sin and death. The law of
sin and death will never come on me. Ever, ever, ever. There is no condemnation on me.
No matter how I feel, or what I think, or even what I do, there's
no condemnation. Why? Because Christ already condemned
sin in His flesh. God did. And notice this, for this purpose,
look at verse 4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled,
look at these two words, the righteousness of the law
fulfilled in us. Now how can that possibly be?
Again, I told you can't look in the mirror and see that. You're
a believer, you're struggling with sin all the time anyway.
How can you say that the law is actually fulfilled in me?
It is because God has given us a nature that has fulfilled the
law. He's given us a righteousness, even the very righteousness of
God. Look at chapter 3. Look what he tells that he's
given you. This is what you that believe, you have. He says, even
the righteousness of God, that's what you have, which is by the
faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. You that believe. The gospel
declares very plainly that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled
in us. That was God's purpose of doing
it. And so then I'm free from condemnation
because sin's already condemned and now God has worked the work
of creation in us and the law is fulfilled in the new man. So then as you walk in this world,
are you cast down? Because I am. I am cast down.
I watch these videos of sheep a lot. You see these YouTube
videos of sheep. I'm not a shepherd, so I thought
I'd look at some. And man, these sheep get so,
their wool gets so ugly and matted up, and they get so fat. And
then they just flop over. They just fall over. They're
top heavy. They just fall over. And you
know what a sheep, he can't right himself. He can't set himself
up. That's how I feel so often. But
what writes me, what sets me on my feet, what gives me hope,
it's the gospel. The spirit of God by the gospel
tells me, there's therefore now no condemnation. Get up. Get
up. And he writes me. It's this law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus that tells me constantly I'm free from the
law of sin and death. Now look at verse 5 real quickly.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
Now here's the distinction that you're not in Christ. Here's
how you know if you're not in Christ. What are you minding?
What are you tending to? Those who are after the flesh
do mind only the things of the flesh. And I'm not talking about
just carnal lust and things like that. What I'm talking about
is religion. Those who are lost mind religious
moralities and law. That's what they do. They tend
to love. Most of the religions of this
age teach poor sinners to mind the flesh. They teach them to use the law
to try to mortify the deeds of their flesh. They say, well,
you need the law to mortify your deeds. You commit too much sin. You need to do this. Stop doing
this and start doing this. When you do that, what are you
minding? Well, I'm minding the flesh.
I'm thinking that if I do this in the flesh, God's going to
be pleased with me. So what are you minding? Things
in the flesh. You think that because you're more moral or
you're doing things right, that somehow God's going to give you
kudos. You think God's going to say,
well, you're doing a good job. What are you minding? The flesh. That's all you can mind. That's
all the natural man can mind, is the flesh. He said, For they
that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. Look
at verse 6. What is the result of this? To
be carnally minded is death. Works religion is death. Works salvation is death. If
salvation is Jesus Christ plus something you do, that's carnal,
that's death. I don't care how sincere you
are. It doesn't matter how sincere you are. It just doesn't. Name one thing you've done without
sin. Name it. What is it? What can you take to God and
say, here, this is righteous. I've done this with perfect love
to you and perfect love to my neighbor. What is it? Nothing. You have nothing. Our Lord said, Hoth, everyone
that thirsteth, come to the waters, come buy wine and milk, without
money, without price. Wherefore do you spend your money
for that which does it satisfy? Why do you spend your time minding
the flesh? It's not going to please God. To be carnally mind is death. Why is that? Verse seven, because
the carnal mind hates God. I'm not talking about religion.
Carnal mind loves religion. Did y'all not see that big monstrosity
in France? Notre Dame, big church. Hundreds
of millions of dollars spent on that thing. Thinking that
makes them closer to God. No, the carnal mind loves religion. It likes a God that needs them. You think God needs you? If you think God needs you, you
think too highly of yourself. Now, the reverse is true. You
need God. You need Christ. Without Him,
you'll die. The carnal mind hates God, for
it's not subject to the law of God. Listen to this. Neither
indeed can be. You cannot obey that law. You
cannot obey the law. You cannot obey the law. You've
not done it yet and you won't ever do it. Why? The carnal mind
hates God and despises His law. You listen very carefully, the
carnal mind is death. If that's what you're about,
trying to earn your favor with God, nothing but death awaits
you. That's it. The distinction is this, those
who are in Christ, look back at your text in verse 5, it said,
but they that are after the Spirit, what do we mind? We mind the
things of the Spirit. I mind spiritual things. Which is what? Spiritual things
such as faith and love. I mind these things. This is
my hope, is Christ. The Spirit of God, when He quickens
a believer, He causes him to look away from himself and look
to Christ. Is that where you're looking
tonight? Are you looking to Christ? Well, you're minding the things
of the Spirit. That's the Spirit of God. When
our Lord came, he told us this about the Spirit. He said the
Spirit won't even testify of himself. You know that? The Holy
Spirit? The Holy Spirit won't testify of himself. The Holy
Spirit only testifies of Christ. So when you believe in Christ,
who's doing that? That's the work of the Spirit.
It's causing you to look away from yourself and look to Christ.
And so how does the believer walk? He walks by the Spirit. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
The Spirit of Christ always causes us to look to Christ, to look
to Christ. To be spiritually minded, Paul
says here, is life and peace. You see the distinction? Are
you in Christ? If you're in Christ, you believe
in Christ, you trust in Christ, who put you there? God put me
there. Who gave me this faith to believe in Christ? God gave
me this faith to believe in Christ. Who's keeping me in Christ? It's
God keeping me in Christ. I'm not going to mind my flesh
to try to keep myself in Christ. God does that. And I look by
faith. And I'll tell you this, I know
this. Every believer still struggles with sin. But I'm so thankful
that salvation doesn't have anything to do with me. I didn't have
anything to do with it. It's completely the work of God. And because it's of God, I can't
mess it up. I can't fall out of it. There
is therefore now no condemnation to you who are in Christ Jesus.
Why? You walk after the Spirit and
not after the flesh. You're seeking to be accepted
by spiritual things, not carnal things. Why? To be carnally minded is death.
To be spiritually minded is life and peace. That's what I want. I want life and peace. I hope that God show you the
distinction and make sure that I would long for everyone to
be in Christ. But that's not my business, is it? I can't put
you in Christ. That's God's business. I can't
make you believe this. That's God's business. I'm just
here to tell you. I'm just a messenger. I pray that God would bless this
to you. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. A gracious Father dismisses with
your own blessings, I beg you. I beg you for grace, power, your
spirit. Pray for grace to lay hold on
Christ. Find in Him all that we cannot
find in the law or the flesh. Find in Him salvation and life
and peace and joy. In Him we trust. I pray that you do this In his
name and for his sake, amen.