Romans chapter 8. 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. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word.
particularly for this glorious truth this morning, that to we who are in your Son,
there is no wrath, there is no guilt, there is no condemnation,
there is no sin. Thank you for our Lord Jesus
Christ who came and did what we could not, and saved us from ourselves,
from our sins, from the very law of our God,
saved us from wrath. Thank you for him and may we
walk in him by your grace. His name we ask, amen. No condemnation. The beauty and light of this
verse is seen best in the context of Romans chapter 7. No condemnation. unable to do even the good that
because of that new birth we talked about this morning we
want to do. We desire to do but unable even
to do that. We don't desire to do good all
that much. Let's be honest with ourselves. But even what we do
desire we can't do it. We don't have to know what it
is. By His grace we do have spiritual
discernment, but we can't do what we want to. The new nature
desiring to refrain from sin, not wanting to dishonor our Lord,
and yet so wicked, so poisoned are we, so undone that we can't
help but commit the vilest evil with our hearts and with our
hands and with our proud lips. Reduced to self-proclaimed wretchedness. The last thing Paul said is,
what a wretch I am. What a wretch. And yet no condemnation. You see, this is a wretch that
cries from this pit of helplessness and despair. despair of self
and cries for a Savior and cries for a Savior to the
Savior and rejoices that through our Lord Jesus Christ there's
no condemnation. We are the woman caught in the
very act of adultery and clearly sentenced to hell by the law.
And yet the one whose law we transgressed says to us, I do
not condemn thee. I do not condemn thee. Go and
sin no more. How? How no condemnation? Well Paul
answered it as I said in chapter 7 verse 24, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I live
in a corpse. Are you getting sick of that?
I thank God. Through Jesus Christ my Lord,
delivered and not condemned by taking our condemnation upon
Himself. Remember, rabbis went free because
the Lord Jesus Christ took the cross that He would have hung
upon. We go free, uncondemned, because Christ took our place
under the wrath of God and for our sin and gave us His place
in the favor and blessing of God. 2 Corinthians 5.21 Having
just declared that it is through Christ Jesus that the wretched
are delivered, Paul here proclaims that there is no condemnation
to them, but there is a certain specific them he speaks of. There is no condemnation to them.
Who? Them which are in Christ Jesus. To be in Christ Jesus is to be
represented by him. As it says in the word, as in
Adam all died because they were represented by Adam. And so in Christ, all are made
alive. First Corinthians 15, 22. That
is all whom he represented as their federal head, as their
last Adam. That is the sense in which Christ
is an Adam. He represented his people. He
prayed for them. He interceded for them. He taught
them. He said, I gave you ears to hear.
I didn't give it to them. I gave it to you. He did everything
for them. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. Pray not for the world. I pray
for them Them who are in Christ Jesus
who are given to Christ by the Father in the eternal covenant
of grace He represents his sheep Adam represented all of mankind
and in Adam all died because of that representation And Christ
represents his people his spiritual Israel and every one of them
shall be freed from sin. I made righteous because he bore
their sin and imputed his righteousness to them because he himself became
our righteousness his name is the Lord our righteousness and
now these two glorious words are mine no condemnation it doesn't say there that there
is no condemnation to them which walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit Our walk doesn't earn us freedom
from condemnation. It says, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. There's
our righteousness. There's our justification. And
by the way, we walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
The order here is very important. Not just by the way, but you
see the order. It's very important. They're
further described that way, but the ones who have no condemnation
or those in Christ. Our non-condemnation is a result
of what He did, not what we do. What we've done is what brought
condemnation to begin with upon our heads. By nature, we're the
children of wrath. We can do nothing to change or
even help that, not even a little bit. Even our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight. Our walk after the Spirit is
a result of salvation, not the cause of it. In chapter 7 we
have these two natures identified which are in every believer.
One is called sin that dwelleth in me. Paul talked about sin
that dwelleth in me in verse 20 I believe. The other is described
as wanting to do good and as not having done the evil that
the other does. If I sin, it's not me, but the
sin that dwelleth in me. It's not the me that loves the
law. It's the old me. Still me. It's a different me. There's
two me's. If you can read Romans chapter
7 and say that there are not two Apostle Paul's, then you
have to conclude that he's a schizophrenic. And don't listen to anything
he says. There's actually two Pauls. That's
the truth of it. One is said to serve the law
of God. And the other, the law of sin. Here they are called
in Romans 8, he's in the same context, now they're called flesh
and spirit. Same two natures. Those who walk
after the spirit are not sinless because they're still also flesh. Our flesh is still just as wicked
as ever it was and always will be. It never improves. Those who deny the existence
of the new nature are forced to attribute worship, love for
God, good works, which the scriptures clearly say we're ordained to.
They have to attribute those things to an improved flesh of
some kind. An influenced flesh. But that's
just an example of one error leading to another. We are still
flesh, and with that flesh, we still serve the law of sin, chapter
7, verse 25. But thank God, we walk after
the Spirit. We do love God, though because
of the flesh, we don't love him as he's worthy to be loved. We
still rebel against him in our wicked hearts. We acknowledge our sin, we worship
God, but our flesh hinders us. How clearly our Lord showed that
in the garden of Gethsemane. The flesh is willing, although
the spirit is willing, but because of your flesh, you can't even
watch with me for an hour. You want to, but the things that
you would do, you find not how to perform them. Peter and James and John, just
like Paul in this chapter. We acknowledge our sin by his
grace, but we also praise him who hath made us free. And we do believe on him. I believe,
but help mine unbelief. There's flesh and spirit right
there. In the spirit, I believe. In the flesh, Lord's gonna have to do something
about my unbelief in me. I pray he'd be pleased to. But he that believeth on him,
even he that believeth, and still is full of unbelief, Because everyone that believeth
on him is still full of unbelief, but he that believeth on him
is not Condemned john 3 18 no condemnation must God Free So
let's look at verse 2 free for the law of the spirit of life
in Christ. Jesus hath made me free From
the law of sin And death now paul makes clear reference here
to those two laws that he refers to in chapter 7 again He said
in verse 21 in chapter 7 and i didn't read that whole chapter,
but Even if I had we would have already forgotten specific verses.
So let me point them out to you verse 21. He said I find in a
law That when I would do good evil is present with me For I
delight in the law of god after the inward man But I see another
law in my members, another law. There can't be another one unless
there's more than one. There's two, and one of them
delights in God's law, but there's another one warring against the
law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members. Two laws, two natures, flesh
and spirit, There in chapter 7 he speaks of captivity, but
here in our verse 8 too, freedom. And again, this can only be understood
of the two natures, the two me's, because I am both bound and free. Flesh and the spirit war one
against the other. We do not walk after the flesh,
verse 4 of chapter 8, but the flesh is captive to the law of
sin. The old me is a slave to sin. He said there in chapter 7 also,
I am carnal, sold under sin. I am captive. Captivity to the
law of sin. But the new me, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, is free. I'm free. This is why Paul speaks
of both being captive and free. How can you be both? Because
there's two me's. One of me is a prisoner. And one is not. But there's no condemnation to
me. And it's not a war between the
two in the sense that there's any doubt as to the outcome of
it. The old me is condemned and is
going to die. But the new me is not. But which
one is really me under God? There's really just one me to
God. That's why he says, I look at you and I don't see any sin
in you. There's just one me to him and it's Christ that liveth
in me. Free, the son has made me free
and I'm free indeed. As an individual, In this world,
in this body of death, the body of this death, I'm not free from
the presence of sin. You know that. You don't even
know me very well, but you know that, don't you, about me. Because
my old fleshly nature is bound by sin. But being in Christ Jesus,
verse 1, I am free from the penalty of sin. That is, What there is therefore
now no condemnation means. Condemnation is the penalty of
sin. The condemnation and wrath of
God. No consequences for my sin. That's freedom. That's real freedom
there. No consequences for my sin. What about, Chris, when we do
something bad and then You know, something bad happens to us.
Well, you know, sometimes that's the Lord correcting us. He's
not punishing you for your sin. If we had any idea what our sin
deserved, we would know that. Oh, that's the Lord punishing
me for my sin. Oh, you have way too light of a thought of what
your sin deserves. Oh no, he didn't do that yet.
And he ain't gonna if you're in Christ Jesus. He ain't about
to. No consequences for sin. And we know why there's no condemnation,
because there's no guilt. We are free from the guilt of
sin, Romans 3, 24, justified freely. Justified means not guilty,
and this is the only way there can be no condemnation. If you have sin, you're going
to be condemned. And the reason we're not condemned
is because he's washed our sins away in his precious blood. Paul
also declares in chapter 8 that we as believers, we don't walk
after the flesh but after the spirit. So it's... Before there is spirit, when
we're just natural men who perceive not the things of God because
they're spiritually discerned, we're just dead flesh. And we
walk after the flesh. We always do those things that
our flesh dictates unto us. That's the bondage that we live
in by nature. But when we have the Spirit of
God, we don't just walk after flesh and spirit equally. It's not that we used to be flesh
and now walk after the flesh only, and now we walk after the
flesh and the spirit. No, we don't walk after the flesh, we
walk after the spirit. We still have flesh. The flesh
still affects everything we do. But we walk after the Spirit.
You see that? We don't walk after both. We
walk after the Spirit. Our Lord says, sin shall not
have dominion over you. And not that way. Free also from the dominion,
the authority, the power of sin. Read Romans 6, 14 concerning
that if you want to look at it later. And thank God for this
marvelous truth. The Son has made us free indeed
now. In verse 3 of Romans 8, for what the law could not do
and 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. Well, this is beautiful language,
my friends. This tells you what you are. If you're a believer
in Christ this morning, this is what you are and why. Because Christ accomplished it
for you. The law can't do it now. Romans
chapter 11, God's chosen with every advantage, outward advantage
a sinner can have in this world. People in an earthly sense, the
Jews, they did not obtain righteousness because they sought it not by
faith, but they sought it by the works of the law. The law
can't do it. What the law could not do. The law can show you how wretched
you are, but it can't help you. It can't do anything about it.
No, the law is not given for that. The law is given that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty. The
law is not given so that you could have no condemnation, but
so that the condemnation would come upon you. Guilty! That you would acknowledge your
guilt before God. Because you're not going to have
no condemnation until you feel the weight of that condemnation
of the law of God. The law is our schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ in that way. The law is given that everybody
would shut up and acknowledge their guilt. I'm condemned. And until you can say I'm condemned,
you're not ever going to say no condemnation. And this is just clear and beautiful
gospel truth. What could not be accomplished
for God's people by any obedience on their part, by all obedience
on their part? God sent his son down here to
accomplish it for them. For them. Notice that it's not
a flaw in God's law that renders it unable to do for us what we
need. It is unable, why? Because of
the flesh. Verse 3, because of the flesh. It's not a problem with the law.
It's the weakness of your flesh. We can't measure up to the law.
We've all fallen short of the glory of God. The weakness or
powerlessness is through or because of our flesh. The law is good
and perfect and right. Romans 7 again. But it cannot
save us because only those who obey that law perfectly are blessed. That ain't you. We are cursed. We are under the curse of the
law. That's why he must made a curse for us, that he might
redeem us from the curse of the law. But if only those who are perfect
are blessed, then nobody's blessed. Not true. Christ came. and did what we
couldn't. He is blessed, and so all those
who are in Him are blessed. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, did not save us apart from the Law. He didn't do away
with His Law. Paul said, we don't destroy the
Law by preaching the Gospel, we fulfill it. Only Christ fulfilled
it, and Christ is the Gospel. He didn't do away with the Law,
but He rendered to the Law what we couldn't render. Perfect obedience
in thought word indeed Perfect sinless will be condemned sin
in the flesh. That is as a man Think about
this He condemns sin in the flesh he came in the likeness of sinful
flesh he looked just like a sinner In the likeness of sinful flesh
yet without sin and And he came for sin. He came
to die for our sins according to the scriptures. He condemned
sin in the flesh. How did he condemn sin? In the flesh, as a man, he condemned
sin. As God, he condemned sin because
he's God. He's holy. But how did he do
it as a man? By not committing any of it.
By just absolutely denying it. By abhorring it. by despising
it, by rejecting it, and by paying for it. He condemned
my sin as a man. And this is what is required in perfection. You have to be the son of God
in order to live up to the law of God, to complete the The law
of God, and that's why it's so absurd for men to think that
offering anything to God, anything that they've done, whether it
be a service or a decision or anything we've ever thought or
promises, you know, oh Lord, from now on, really? When we presume to do anything
that in and of itself is imagined to be pleasing unto God, we insult
Him. But not only that, it's worse
than that. It's an insult to his holy law,
but it is also a trampling under our filthy feet the precious
blood of his son. It is to say to God, I don't
need Christ and his blood. I can do well on my own. Thank you very much. The Lord Jesus Christ shed his
blood expressly because We are unable to please God. Christ condemned sin in the flesh
by paying the penalty for our sin. The wages of sin is death,
and he paid that price. Listen to Philippians 2a. Being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. He not only did for
us as our representative what we couldn't do, what we couldn't
accomplish by the law, by the deeds of the law, but he paid
for what we did too. And what we're doing this morning,
he got to pay for it. He had to pay for it. And what
we're going to do tomorrow, he had to pay for it. If we're his,
he paid for it. It's already paid for. My sin is condemned, but not
me. You see the word condemned in
these first four verses, how it's used those two times? No
condemnation to them, but their sin is condemned instead. May God use us to deliver this
message of free justification through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 3. We are justified
freely by His grace. No reason in you. Simply because
God is gracious where our sin abounded. How can there be no
condemnation to me? Chris, your sin abounds. Because
His grace did much more abound. That's how. freely justified by his grace.
Well, how can God do that? He can't just say you're holy
and you're not. Well, it's through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. By the precious blood of Christ,
he not only can say you're holy, he does. And he sees that you
are. You know, a lot of people talk
about this as as though we're really we really are sinful.
But God doesn't see us that way. What's really true is what God
sees. What we see is what's not true.
You see me as a sinner. You know what? You're wrong.
We're talking about the justification that we have in Christ Jesus.
You're wrong. You see me as a wretch, and I
am a wretch in myself, but I'm not in myself. I'm in Christ
Jesus. And there's no condemnation for
me. The very righteousness of the
law is fulfilled in us. You see that in our Italian verse
four? It's fulfilled by him, but it's fulfilled in me. It's
my, the righteousness of the law is mine. I own it. I am it. Does that good grabber? I am
it. He was made sin. Why? So we could be made the
righteousness of God in him. There's our words from verse
one in Christ Jesus. I am it. I am the righteousness
of God. It's fulfilled in me by Christ. Christ in me is the hope of glory.
We are righteous on the law's own terms because of him. And it's so not by what we've
done in relation to God's law. We've done nothing but break
it. Even when we keep it, we're breaking it. But this is accomplished by him.
God sent his son to do it. God's righteousness is not fulfilled
in us by our walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh,
though we do. The text declares that we walk
not after the flesh but after the Spirit because He condemned
sin in my flesh and fulfilled righteousness in me and for me. Notice the words for in verses
two and three. Because, instead of for there read the
word because, because that's what it means. No condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus because the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. The sin has no claim upon me. The law does. For what the
law could not do, because what the law could not do. Why am
I not condemned? Because I'm free from the law. Why am I free from the law? Because
God sent his son. You see that? And he condemned
my sin as a man. I want to close this by quoting
one verse of scripture. What does all this mean? Jonah said in verse 9 of chapter
2, the book of Jonah, I will sacrifice unto thee with the
voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. May we indeed thank Him as Paul
did in chapter 7. I thank God. Through Jesus Christ
my Lord, I'm delivered from the body of this death. And that's
how. Right there. Because He came
and did what I couldn't. and paid for what I did. Let's
pray.