Good evening, let's all stand
together and sing hymn number six. Hymn number six. Help us thy name to sing, help
us to praise. Father, all-glorious, O'er all
victorious, Come and reign over us, ancient of days. Come Thou Incarnate Word Heard
on Thy mighty sword Our prayer attain Come and Thy people bless
And give Thy word success Spirit of holiness On us descend Come
Holy Comforter Thy sacred witness swear In this flat hour Thou
who almighty art Now rule in every heart And there from us
depart Spirit of power ? To the great one in three ? Eternal
praises be ? Hence evermore ? His sovereign majesty ? May we in
glory see ? And to eternity love and adore be seated while saying hymn number
352. 352. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high, ? Guide me, O my Savior ? Safe into the haven died, O receive
my soul at last. Mother, refuge have I none, Hangs
my helpless soul on thee. Leave, ah, leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is staid
All my help from Thee I bring Cover my defenseless head Now, O Christ, Lord, all are one More
than all in thee I find Raise the fall and cheer the
vain, heal the sick and lead the blind. Just and holy. Pulse and pool of sin I am, Thou
art pool of truth and grace. Plenteous grace within is found,
Grace to cover all thy sins. ? Let the healing streams abound
? ? Make and keep me pure within ? ? Thou of life the fountain
o'er ? ? Free thee, let me take thee ? ? Spring thou up within my heart
? ? Christ to all eternity ? Romans chapter eight. Romans
chapter eight. I know it's been so long since
we've been here, you don't know where we've been. I'll remind
you in a minute. I was talking to Billy Ardropolis
a little minute ago. They was leaving Florida, left
on Monday. He said it takes about four hours
to get from where they live, and he lives in St. Pete, and
this hurricane that's coming now, they're gonna get a direct
hit right there. And so these poor people, I tell
you, in two with 13 days, they've had two hurricanes. It ain't
got over that one over in North Carolina and East Tennessee.
It's just awful, awful. But anyway, he said it takes
four hours to get from where they was to the Georgia border. He said it took them 10 hours.
That's how many people getting out of Florida. I'd have got
out too. And he's there up in Kentucky.
Said he's going to go over and worship over to hear the gospel
at Todd's this evening. So they'll tell how long they'll
be there, but there's Greg and Trish and the folks there. And we, you know, God does these
things and then we're sitting here in a drought. It's amazing. God's ways are
just past finding out. But it also says he has his way
in the whirlwind. Oh my, still makes you feel so
compassionate for these folks, you know, you just, it's just awful. But God have
mercy on them, God protect them, God keep them, God get them through
these things. All right, let me lead these
first four verses of Romans 8 and try to deal with them later.
There is, therefore, now, No condemnation to them which 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 and death. For what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Our most gracious, glorious Father,
and our blessed God of heaven and earth. Lord, we come into
your presence. Lord, with this flesh and all
that pertains to it that keeps us from entering into your presence
with all of our heart and souls. But Lord, it's in our souls.
to come into your presence fully and completely and entirely with
our hearts. And Lord Jesus, we thank you
for your great, great, great mercies, for your mercies that
are new every morning, and your compassions that never fail.
Lord Jesus, we thank you that you kept us clothed in our right
mind, Enable us to have the strength and will to come to meet together
To worship you and honor you and your blessed son the Lord
Jesus Christ and our father we Thank you for my preacher brethren.
Thank you for the men that came and I pray for the ones in this
congregation that need prayer bodies are weak bodies are frail
and Troubles may be in the home, troubles in the marriage, whatever
it may be, oh Lord, we know that you know, and so we ask that
you'd meet the needs of these dear people. And our Father,
we pray now for these people in the face of these terrible
storms. Lord, you're a merciful God,
you're a gracious God, but yet you're just and a righteous God.
And Lord, we'd never find fault with anything that you do on
this earth. But Lord, we would ask you to be merciful to those
who are in the way of this awful storm, that you'd be merciful
and gracious and provide the needs of all of those that are
without, those lords who are suffering, those lords who've
lost everything. And there'll be people come home
and they won't have a home to come to. They'll come home and
they won't have a place to stay. And, oh, Lord, we don't know
how to deal with such things, but we know that you do. You
know the hearts and minds of everyone. God, please be merciful,
be gracious, and in wrath remember mercy. And, Lord, remember that
we're all poor and needy and that we're but dust, so have
pity upon us for Christ's sake. Amen. M number 52. Number 52. Majestic sweetness sits enthroned
Upon the Savior's brow His head with radiant glories crowned
His lips with grace so full His lips with grace so full O Lord,
O King, with Him compare among the sons of men. Fairer is He than all the pair
who fill the heavenly train, who fill the heavenly He saw me plunged in deep distress
and flew to my relief. For me he bore the shameful cross
and carried all I grieved. To Him I owe my life and breath
and all the joys I have. He makes me triumph over death
and saves me from the grave, and saves me from Is Seth and Kaylee all right? Well, the title of my subject
this evening is A Glorious Fact. A Glorious Fact. There in verse
one, there is therefore now no condemnation. That's a fact. That is a fact. But it's not
to everybody. It's only to a particular people.
Who is it? Them that are in Christ Jesus. He qualifies. He qualifies it. Now we've seen that we've been
justified and sanctified in our Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
God, by His sovereign mercy, joined us to Christ and Christ
to us. We're in union with Him. And
the scripture says when He was crucified, we were crucified
WITH Him. And you know, by our union with
Him, we become dead to sin. Christ died unto sin, indeed,
once. He died there once. And so, likewise,
you reckon yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin. And yet, we're
alive unto righteousness. We're dead to the law, as we've
seen in Romans 7, but we're married to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
not under the law but under grace, so sin is not going to have dominion,
rule, or reign over us. And we've seen the last time
that I was here, we've seen that we have two natures, two natures,
and that two natures struggles, struggles, struggles, struggles.
Paul said, What I would do, I don't. What I hate, I do. I see a law
in this body, in this body, in the members of this body. The
law is spiritual, but I'm carnal. And then he come to conclusion,
said, oh, wretched man that I am. What a wretched, wretched man
that I am. Who shall save me from this body,
this body of sin? And then he tells us, after we
deal with these two natures, and we know, everybody knows
you've got two. God gave us a new nature. He
gave us all a new nature. He's joined us to the Lord Jesus
Christ, what Christ had, we have. But we are PAINFULLY AWARE that
we're LEFT with His flesh, that we're left with His body. And
that's why Paul said, The WILL, the WILL is present with me.
I've GOT the WILL. Oh, what a will I've got to honor
God, to live to His glory, to never sin again, to bring glory
to God in every way, and to this flesh have no control over me
whatsoever. But he said, how to perform?
I just don't know how, I can't find it. And I know when I would
do good, evil comes right along beside me, does. So we got this old nature, and
God saved us, but He never done nothing for the old nature, and
that's why we long to be done with this old nature. We long
to be done with this body of sin. And oh my, and even though
we struggle with the flesh, we don't walk after the flesh. The
flesh is not our master. Our old nature is not our master.
Our old nature is not the one that controls us. And we walk
NOT after them, the reason being in there in verse 1. Here in
chapter 8, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. Here in chapter 8 we're going
to learn, we're going to learn this, that the believer's life,
that the life of a Christian is something very, very different
than one long endeavor, one long effort to end up being good at
the end of your life. Well, you know, here's the difference.
You know, people want to get to the end of their life and
be justified then. People work to be accepted of
God at the end. People labor to be good at the
end and be righteous at the end. But where THEY want to go is
our starting place. They won't end up being righteous,
we start out righteous. They won't end up being holy,
we start out being holy. They won't end up being justified,
we start out being justified. So we're there going, that's
our starting place. And it's a sad thing, every one
of us has experienced this. If you've lived long, unless
you've been on the sound of the gospel all your life, every one
of us has experienced trying to make, by our own efforts,
to make ourselves acceptable to God. And there's no peace
in it. There's no comfort in it. It's
just nothing but a struggle day in and day out. And about the
time you think you've got somewhere, you find out, oh my, you'll do
something and say, oh, I gotta start all over again. Gotta start
all over again. Well, if we see here that what
grace, and this blesses my heart so much, that what grace requires,
grace gives. that's why it's called the gospel,
that's why it's called good news. Now, before we get into this,
look over in Isaiah 52, look in Isaiah 52, that's why the
gospel is called good news, that's why it's called publishing peace, And look what He said here in
Isaiah 52, 7. This is why the Gospel is such
good news. No condemnation, dealing with this old flesh, struggle
and fight, and then turn around and find out there's no judgment.
And oh, look what He said here in verse 7, How beautiful upon
the mountains, upon the mountains are the feet of him that publisheth
good tidings, PUBLISHETH PEACE, THAT BRINGETH GOOD TIDINGS OF
GOOD, THAT PUBLISHES SALVATION, THAT SAITH UNTO ZION, THY GOD
REIGNETH." NOW, THAT'S WHY THE GOSPEL IS SUCH GOOD NEWS. AND
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING ELSE BEFORE I GET INTO THIS MESSAGE.
THE HOLY SPIRIT WASN'T MENTIONED IN CHAPTER 7, NOT MENTIONED. HERE IN CHAPTER 8 HE'S MENTIONED
TWENTY TIMES! HE IS MENTIONED TWENTY TIMES!
And so, as we look at these verses of Scripture, these first four
verses of Scripture, and I read the first one to you, and it
says there are two things, I think there are two things every believer
wants above everything else in this world. He wants salvation,
he wants to be saved from the guilt and the curse of sin. Want to be saved from the guilt
and the curse of sin. And I tell you, they want to
live in Christ. If you want to do that, you gotta
live in Christ. And we want salvation from the
power of sin and salvation from the practice of sin. To do that,
you have to walk in the Spirit. And you know, those that know
Christ and have a saving entity in Christ, they're both found
in Him. FREEDOM FROM THE GUILT AND THE
CURSE OF SIN, POWER OVER SIN, AND ONE OF THESE DAYS, BLESS
HIS HOLY NAME, WE'LL BE DONE WITH THE PRACTICE OF SIN, BUT
WE WANT TO BE DONE WITH IT. AND OH MY, LOOK WHAT A GLORIOUS
FACT HERE, LET'S GO BACK THERE IN VERSE 1, THERE IS THEREFORE,
THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHICH ARE IN CHRIST JESUS,
WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT. And oh,
what a statement of fact! Therefore, therefore, when you
see a therefore, you've got to find out what it's there for.
Therefore, you look back to everything that's been said, and he talked
about all the things that went through Romans 7, Romans 6, and
he comes down to this conclusion after Paul said, Oh, I can't
do what I would, and what I don't do, that's what I do. Then he
comes along and says, Listen, THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION. YOU REMEMBER THAT THERE? THERE'S
NO JUDGMENT, NO CONDEMNATION. OH MY! AND I TELL YOU WHAT, AND
YOU KNOW IT LOOKS ALL THAT HAPPENED BEFORE, AND THEN, AND I'VE TOLD
YOU THIS BEFORE, I LOVE THIS RIGHT HERE, NOW, THERE IS THEREFORE
NOW NO CONDEMNATION. AND THAT NOW IS ALWAYS IN THE
PRESENT, ALWAYS IN THE PRESENT. RIGHT NOW WE'RE IN THE PRESENT.
And every time you read that, it's the present. Right now,
there's no condemnation to Christ. And I'll tell you what, and in
chapter five, he dealt with our past. And what I mean by that,
he says, when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. That's our past. When we were
yet without strength, And God commendeth His love toward us
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And then
we were under that law, and we was under that, and then He says,
Now we walk in newness of life by the Spirit. Our past, it don't
exist anymore. How come? Because Christ died
for the ungodly. Christ died for sinners. And
therefore, there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ. And
oh my, and then he dealt with our future. We're sin abounded,
you know what he said? This is our future, we're sin
abounded? Grace is gonna abound a heapsot more. You think sin's
abounded? You wait till grace gets here. And then he says, there's therefore
now no. Did you see that word no? Now for us, we don't want children
to do that, but for God's sakes, no, that's a very emphatic word. That's emphatic, no condemnation. Oh no, no sort of condemnation. Whether it's judicial condemnation,
the law can't come and condemn us. Judge of all the earth won't
come and condemn us. Our experiential, what we have
experienced in our life, there's no condemnation. And this is
the foundation. And I'll tell you something,
you know what this teaches us? The perfection of our justification. Our justification is perfect.
Now we need grace. We have to have grace continually. We have to have it continually,
mercy continually, to keep us from sin, to keep us from ourselves. We need the power of the Holy
Spirit in our lives to keep us from being selfish and being
mean and being cruel, and we need the Holy Spirit to ENABLE
us to do. But here's something we'll NEVER,
NEVER, NEVER be justified again. Perfect justification. Perfect. We need grace every day. We need
the Holy Spirit to keep us and preserve us, to teach us and
guide us. Make us understand the Bible. But we'll never need
justification again. No, no. And this it said, no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Oh my. How do you get in Christ? Of God. Of God. Is Christ of God is Christ made
unto us. How do we know anything about
Christ? God. God made Christ to be unto
us. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. And I tell you, we're united
to Christ by faith. You know, and all that He did,
we did. You know, we have His merit,
we have His life, And that's the reason there's no condemnation.
Would God condemn His own Son? Well, He can't condemn us that
are in Him. Can't do that. And then look
at verse two. Oh, listen to this now. This is why
it's this way. For the law of the Spirit, and
you see how the Spirit's capitalized there? That's talking about the
Holy Spirit. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That's why there's no condemnation.
How is this salvation accomplished? He said, the law of the Spirit
of Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Oh, here s a great contrast to that simple sentence, you know,
no, oh, wretched man that I am, and then he turns around here
and says, Oh my, the law of the Spirit of life. Look, I want
you to look with me over here at 1 Corinthians 15, you know,
the Scriptures talks about Christ in you, the hope of glory, Christ
in you, the hope of glory, talking about the life of Christ, the
Spirit of the life of Christ. Chapter 15, verse 45, look at
this with me. You know, here's what we're talking about.
And so it is written, the first man, Adam, was made a living
soul. That's why we come, we come from Adam. The last Adam,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is made a quickening spirit. What does
that mean? That He quickens us to life. He comes to give life. And that's
what he says, the law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. You
know, Christ in you is the hope of glory. And Paul told the Galatians,
he said, I pray that Christ be formed in you. Now let me say
something about that. Christ formed in you, the life
of the spirit of Christ in you, not religion formed in you, not
doctrine formed in you, NOT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP FORMED IN YOU, BUT
CHRIST FORMED IN YOU, AND THE LIFE THAT WE HAVE IS CHRIST IN
US. THAT'S THE HOPE OF GLORY. THE
LIFE WE HAVE RIGHT NOW IS CHRIST IN US, THE LIFE OF CHRIST IN
US. YOU KNOW, HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU ALL KNOW THAT I'M TELLING
THE TRUTH WHEN I TALK ABOUT CHRIST AND THESE THINGS OF CHRIST? I
TELL YOU HOW YOU KNOW IT'S THE TRUTH, BECAUSE CHRIST IN YOU,
Christ in you answers to Christ from the Word of God. When Christ
in you, it answers to what Christ says in His Word. You understand
it, you get it. When the Holy Spirit brings,
who brings life, the life of Christ to a man's soul, and look
what it says now, the life of the Spirit of life in Christ.
The Holy Spirit brings the life of, there's only LIFE for us
in Christ. We only get life FROM Christ.
He said, Because I live, you shall live also. And I tell you
what, He said, I give unto them ETERNAL LIFE! And I tell you,
this LAW of the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Holy Spirit
of God, gives us LIFE in Christ. It comes in a man's soul, and
He PUTS the life of Christ in a man. And oh, when that happens,
look what happens. hath made me free." Now, when it talks about free,
being justified FREELY by His grace, when it talks about free, that means it don't cost you
nothing. And look what it says, the Christ in us hath made us
free from the law of sin, WE'RE FREE FROM THE PRINCIPLE OF SIN.
WE'RE FREE FROM SIN RULING OVER US. SIN IS NOT OUR MASTER. CHRIST
IN US IS OUR MASTER. AND THIS SET US FREE FROM THE
LAW, THE PRINCIPLE OF SIN. AND WATCH WHAT IT SAYS, WE'RE
IN UNDER CONSEQUENCES OF SIN, WHICH IS DEATH. IF HE SET US
FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. YOU KNOW WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES
OF SIN IS? DEATH. WELL, HE SET US FREE. CHRIST IN US SET US FREE. I am free from sin. How can I
be free from sin? Just as Christ is free from sin. Christ, in that He died, He died
unto sin once, but in that He rose, He rose again. He says
that God's right hand, HE'S free from sin! And I'M free from sin,
just as HE'S free from sin! Now, I tell you what, and say
what you want to about it, feelings don't go into this, emotions
don't, you know, I get pretty emotional over things, but I
tell you what, this is a fact that we have been made free from
the law of sin. It does not rule over us, does
not reign over us. We grieve over, I've said this
a thousand times I guess in all the years I've been here, that
we have thoughts and things and emotions in our mind that just
what we think condemns us and makes us feel bad for just what
we think sometimes. Now you couldn't do that if you
hadn't been made free from sin. If you wasn't made free from
sin, you know what you'd do? You'd sin, you'd live in sin,
you'd enjoy sin, you'd delight in sin. But we're free from it. And we're
free from the consequences of it, which is death. Which is
death. Oh my. That's two contrasted
laws here. The law of the spirit of life,
that's a law. That's a law. And then the law
of sin and death. One overcomes the other. That's
why Paul says, they that are Christ have crucified the flesh
and the lusts thereof. The law, the flesh lusts against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and you cannot do the
things that you would. Oh my, we're free. Free, free,
free, free, free. Oh, I tell you, you see folks,
it's not free. They're not free, they're not
never gonna be free. But you know, I'll tell you,
just to be free from sin, it's what God says. It's what God
says. When God says something, that's
the way it really is. It's not the way we would like
for it to be. That's the way it is. When God says the life
of Christ in you has set you free from lawless sin and death. Sin can't condemn you. Death can't get you. That's why
we say when people, when the Lord takes one of his elect on,
we rejoice about it. You know, we mourn over the loss
of them, but yet we rejoice the fact that they're in glory. Oh my. And then look what happens
now, down here in verse three. And this is why He talked about
the law of sin and death. So He's going to tell us what
the law could not do. He's going to tell us something
there. He said, For what the law could not do, and that it
was weak through the flesh, God sent in His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin. Where at? In the
flesh. Now wait a minute. What the law could not do. There's
no defect in God's law, not a thing in the world wrong with God's
law. Paul says it's just, it's holy, and it's good. That's what
he said about it. But you know what the defect
is, where the problem is? Us. For what? That it was weak. Through
what? Our flesh. You know them, you're
talking about some people bringing themselves under a curse. When
Moses come down from the law, down from the mountain with the
law, and then he had all these other laws and rituals and feasts
and all that for them folks to do, they said this when he got
back down there. He said, all that he says, we'll
do. And boy, what a mess they made
when they said that. Everything he told us to do,
we'll do it. And it wasn't no time, there's
building of a cafe. Dancing naked! Oh my, and I tell you, listen,
oh the law was weak because it demanded what Newman nature could
not never possibly provide. We could not know, you know, the law's spiritual. Our Lord,
how many times did He say, You have heard it said of an old
time, but I say unto you. He put the right interpretation
on the law, and they put their spin on it, but Christ said this
is the way it really is. This is what you've got to be.
This is what you've got to act. This is what it demands. And
the whole law hangs on two things. Love God with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Now, the flesh would not let
me do that. Ain't nothing wrong with the
law, problem's with us. But look what happens now. Well,
how in the world's sin gonna be condemned in the flesh since,
you know, since it's weak through the flesh? The law's weak through
the flesh. Oh, my. Well, how's sin gonna
be condemned in the flesh? How's it gonna be judged? How's
it gonna be destroyed? It s because of our flesh and
the depravity that the law is insufficient and impotent, and
oh, God has to do EVERYTHING for us in salvation. And I tell
you that when I first heard this, and I m going to say it, and
listen to what I m going to say. What God requires, He provides. What He provides, He accepts.
Nothing more, nothing less. What He requires, He provides.
What He provides, that's all He'll accept. Nothing more and
nothing less. And that's what He's talking
about here. And oh my, look what He said. And this is what He
talks about. What nothing wrong with the law, the problems with
us weak through the flesh. What did God do? What did God
do? Sending His own Son. How's he
gonna do away with this business of sin in the flesh? How's he
gonna do away with the flesh being judged and the sin being
destroyed and just, sin gonna be destroyed from the flesh,
huh? Oh, God sent his own son. God
sent His Son, nobody sent after Him. Our Lord unbosomed Himself
from the Father and came into this world. This is the Son of
God's love. This is the one in whom He's
well-pleased. And oh, it's like Abraham and
Isaac when they went up on the mountain. Abraham knew when he
took his son up there that if he slew him, God was gonna raise
him again from the dead because the promise was in Isaac. And sure enough, they found a
ram and they put him in his place, and that s the way it was. God
SENT a ram to save Isaac. God sent a ram to save Abraham
from doing what he would to his own son. He sent a ram so that
God could look down and say, I know, I KNOW now that you love
me. I KNOW now that you d give your
only son. I KNOW that now. I SEE it! I see it, and that's what God
said. I see what has shaped you, and
I see your flesh, and I see your weakness, and I see your sin.
What are you gonna do? I'll sin my son. He'll be that ram in the thicket.
I'll sin my son. Oh, that's the deity of our Lord.
And then look what else it says. In the likeness of sinful flesh,
shows us His Incarnation. Now, I want you to notice what
it says, they're in the LIGHTNESS of sinful flesh. What that means
is He LOOKED like a man, He WAS a man! He got tired, He got weak,
He got thirsty, He had to sleep, He went up mountains to pray,
But he was in the likeness. He looked, you know, when you
looked at him, you'd seen him no different. You know, when
they come out to get him, Judah says, the one that I kissed,
that's the one you need to get. They didn't go out there and
see a big light shining down from heaven on him. They didn't
see a halo around his head. Our Lord Jesus could walk right
away from him and they never know he walked away. But he was
in the likeness of sinful flesh. But he had no sin, knew no sin,
committed no sin. Sin was nothing. Sin was nothing
to him but a grievous, grievous thing. But look what happened.
How's God gonna judge this sin and destroy this sin in the flesh?
In the sinning Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and listen to
this, and for sin, as a sacrifice for sin. Bless his holy name. God made sinning to be what?
A sacrifice. You need a lamb. I've got one. Your sins gotta be judged and
destroyed. I'll tell you how I'll do it.
I'll send my son. I'll make him in the likeness
of flesh. He'll look like you. He'll identify with you. But
oh my, he'll be a sacrifice for sin. And look what happened.
He judged, that word condemned also means judged. He condemned
sin in what? This right here. In the flesh. He condemned it. He judged it.
He judged it. It's destroyed. Oh my. Our Lord Jesus Christ's death was God's
condemnation of sin. It was the judgment of sin. Sin's
rule is broken. God said, Oh, I'm satisfied with
him. Our Lord's death is a perpetuation
And what that means is that he was an appeasement to the wrath
of God. We could never take away God's
wrath. We could never appease God in
any way. But Christ's death was an appeasement.
It took away God's wrath. It is expectatory. That means
that he actually put it away. That by his death, he actually
puts it away. And then thirdly, it was redemption.
It was the paying of a debt. Of all the debt that we owed,
he paid it all. And I tell you, our Lord saved
us from sin's power and bondage. No wonder, no wonder we glory
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then look what happens
now. Since all this has happened,
this is why we're no condemnation in Christ. It's because what
God did through Christ and the likeness of sinful flesh and
the lost spirit of life in Christ, and He condemned sin in the flesh,
and this is what happens then, that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us. What in the world is he talking
about? The righteousness of the law? Everything the law demanded
was perfection, and God is a righteous God, and He said, You know, you've
got to live like I do! You've got to be as righteous
as I am! And you know what He says? Since God condemned law,
He said, The righteousness of the law, listen to it now, is
fulfilled! In who? How'd we do it? We didn't! Oh, the righteous of the law
fulfilled in us. Next time somebody asks you,
you know, what do you do about Discipline of the church say
we don't need to be disciplined. We with the license the laws
fulfilled in us We're perfect already What are you gonna condemn
us if God don't condemn us if God says the rice law fulfilled
in us? I don't want nobody else to bother me either And look what it says who walk
not after the flesh You know here's the thing about it A lot
of preachers say, you know, you can either walk after the flesh
or after the spirit, but that's not what that says. It says who
walk, those people in Christ, they DON'T walk after the flesh.
WORKS people walk after the flesh, REFORMED people walk after the
flesh, LAWKEEPERS walk after the flesh, RELIGION walks after
the flesh, but them that are in Christ, THEY DO NOT WALK AFTER
THE FLESH! THEY DON'T DO IT! What do they
do then? They walk after the Spirit. Why?
Because the Spirit of the life of Christ is in them. About the time you're getting
ready to take a wrong step, the Holy Spirit says, don't do that.
Don't do that. You're going to go this way.
Don't do that. Ain't you glad that the Spirit of life in Christ
is that way for us? All right. You know, that righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in us. Oh my, and being in Christ secures
us, listen to me now, secures us in the holiness which the
law requires. The law requires holiness, holiness. And I tell you what, which we
could not produce, but the righteousness of the law that required it.
The law fell because of man's inability. The Gospel reveals
God's ability to give to us. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. To who? Them that believe. Instead of law and guilt and
condemnation, we're under the law of Christ, the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ. We live by Christ, through Christ,
because of Christ. And I tell you, we cannot deal
with our union with Christ enough. We can't. You know, every time
I have a wedding and we deal with Romans 5, Ephesians 5, it
says there, right there, that he said, I speak of a mystery.
Two shall be one. But he said, really what I'm
talking about is Christ. I show you a mystery that marriage
is like our union with Christ, our marriage with Christ. Us,
we're one in Christ, just like a husband and wife become one.
That's easy to understand, isn't it? All right. Our Father, blessed be your holy
name. Thank you for your blessed, blessed,
blessed gospel of peace. the gospel that salvation, that
our God reigneth, that you gave us everything that you require,
and you'll only accept what you provided. And you provided your
son, you sent him, and oh Lord Jesus, we come to you, standing
in your merit, in your righteousness, and we can only come to God through,
by, and because of you. Thank you for the life you give
us, Thank you for that new nature you put in us. Thank you for
that Holy Spirit that keeps us, directs us, and teaches us, instructs
us, and enables us to understand your precious word, and that
keeps us from this old flesh, and this sin, and this old fallen
nature that we have. God bless these dear saints as
they go their way, and again, have mercy upon these people
in these storms. For Christ's sake, amen. 205,
205. We'll sing this and then you'll
be at liberty to go. Let's stand together, we'll sing this. Everybody
knows what this is. Should. Free from the law, oh happy condition. Jesus hath bled and there is
remission. Oh, cursed by the law, bruised
by the fall. Grace hath redeemed us once and
for all. ? Free from the law, oh happy condition
? Jesus hath bled and there is remission Second verse. How are we free? There's no condemnation Jesus
has rights for perfect salvation Come unto me, oh, hear His sweet
call Come and He saves us once for all Children of God, O glorious
calling, surely His grace will keep us from falling. Passing from death to life at
His call, bless His salvation once for all. ? Once for all, brother, believe
it ? ? Cling to the cross, the burden will fall ? ? Christ has
redeemed us once for all ? See you Sunday, God willing.