Romans chapter 8. And the title of the message
this morning is, The Weakness of Man, the Mercy of God, and
the Result of Grace. The weakness of man, the mercy
of God, and the result of grace. Now the apostle, having shown
to us that man cannot be justified by the works of the law, by the
obedience of his flesh, but only by the free grace of God that
is through Jesus Christ. Man cannot be justified by his
works and obedience to the law, only by faith through Jesus Christ. And in chapter 4, he shows us
this by Abraham. Remember, it was written that
Abraham believed God, and it was imputed, it was counted to
him for righteousness, and that was not just for him, but for
us also. And in chapter 5, we read the
apostle tells us that this justification comes by a representative man. Adam was a representative man.
Even so, as Adam sinned, so did the whole race of Adam. And even
so, righteousness comes only by a representative man. Then
in chapter 6, we have studied that the Apostle says that this
justification by grace through faith in Christ, that all who
believe on Christ will not use grace as an excuse to sin, but
rather as a means of righteousness, as a means of yielding ourselves,
servants, to God. And then, in chapter 7, Paul
uses his own experience. His own experience of grace. You see, the apostle understanding
that a man that's saved by grace is not completely, though he's
free from the dominion of sin, man is still not free from the
presence of sin. This is altogether important
for us who believe because we too have this struggle, this
battle that rages within us. It is the Spirit lusting against
the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit. And Paul himself
says, I have this struggle in my own flesh, in my own experience. Though we are free from sin's
dominion, we are not free from its presence. And even though
we've been quickened by the Spirit in the inner man, the old man,
the one we are born with, does not change. But rather God created
in us. God did something for us that
we could not do for ourselves. He created in us a new nature,
a new heart that loves God, that delights in the law of God. But this old man, he says in
chapter 7, still follows after the law of sin. And so then we
are made to see our wretched condition. Is this your wretched
condition? Can you identify with those things?
Every believer can. Every true child of God can identify
with these things. And so then we see our wretched
condition, O wretched man that I am, Paul says in 7.24. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God, by the grace of
God through Jesus Christ. So then, here's the end result
of it, he said, with the mind I myself serve the law of God.
That's with the inner man, but with the flesh, the law of sin.
So then, after all this, we're stuck with ourselves. We're stuck
with this struggle. How is it then we can be comforted? How shall we be comforted who
are continually struggling against the old man and desire to live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world? How is
it that we can find comfort? We'll see the words then in verse
1 of chapter 8. Even though we struggle, Paul
says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. There is therefore now no condemnation. What is condemnation? Well, condemnation,
the word itself, means a sentence. A sentence of a judgment. If
a judge, if we can imagine a just judge. I know it's hard for us
in this world we live in for a just judge to actually abide
by the law, but imagine that you had one. And he actually
made a judgment according to the law and found someone guilty
of violating the law. You see, then, when the verdict
is rendered, when guilty is the verdict, there also comes along
a sentence that must be passed. It's not a matter of opinion.
This judge can't give out, shouldn't give out a sentence according
to his opinion, but rather according to the law. And I tell you that the law of
God has issued a verdict. God's already issued the verdict.
God's already tried your case, and every son of Adam has been
found guilty, guilty of violating, of breaking the law of God, and
the sentence that God has passed is death. Sin is no trivial thing. Sin is a crime and treason against
the emperor of glory, against God Himself. Sin is no trivial
thing. I know we think of sin as trivial. We divide sin up into small sins
or big sins. We think we're better if we just
have the small ones. You're just as guilty in the
small things as you are in the big. It doesn't matter. The sentence
is the same. It's death. The soul that sinneth
It shall surely die. That's the sentence. Of the verdict
is guilty, the sentence is death. In Adam, all die. All die. So then, all who are
under the law stand in condemnation and under the sentence of death. Condemnation, the verdict of
guilty and the sentence is death. I know we hear people passing
judgment on others in such moral things and they everyone loves
to have their opinion, don't they? I like to, maybe I should
stop, but I like to listen and talk radio, but I'm just tired
of everybody's opinion about things. Now everybody has an opinion
as to what is right and wrong. But friends, sin is not a matter
of opinion. It doesn't matter what you think
of sin or what I think of sin. It matters what God thinks of
sin. What God says to be sin, regardless of what you think,
it's sin. It's sin. And because all sin
is against God, and all sin is condemned under the justice of
God who is holy, God is the only judge and He declares what sin
is. Go over to 1 Corinthians chapter
6. I want to be as clear as I possibly
can and I'll just show you in the Word of God. I'll show you
what God says about sin. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse
9. Know you not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, those are
those who commit sexual acts outside of marriage, those are
fornicators. Fornicators nor idolaters. Those are those who worship another
God other than the sovereign God of the Scriptures. Those
free will works religion folks. Those who believe in the God
of universal atonement. They're idolaters. He says no
idolaters. nor adulterers, those who are
guilty of violating the marriage covenant, of effeminate or abusers
of themselves with mankind, that's homosexuality, nor thieves, those
who steal, nor covetous, those who desire to have what they
don't have, nor drunkards, drug addicts, alcoholics, nor revilers,
those are gossipers, Gossipers are mentioned in this category.
Nor extortioners, those who rob lawfully, nor shall inherit the
kingdom of God. Now is that not plain that these
will not, no matter what, inherit the kingdom of God? This is plain words. These are
plain words. If you have committed any of
these in thought, motive, or practice, you are guilty. And it says that not one of these
shall inherit the kingdom of God. Where then is there any
hope? Look at verse 11. And such were
some of you. Such were some of you. What made the difference between
us and them? What made the difference? Why
is it that we were these things? That's true. If we are honest,
just for a minute, we all have committed these things. We all
have. What makes the difference? Did our Reformation make the
difference? Is it because we decided to turn over a new leaf
and start doing better? Has that made the difference?
Well, I was a drunkard, I was a fornicator, but I went to the
12-step program and now I'm saved. No. No. That doesn't make you
free from condemnation of the law. Why is it that these things we
were, but now we desire to live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world? How is it that believers in Christ
are now free from condemnation, seeing that we have sinned and
do sin? Look at this. But such were some
of you, but not that you were reformed, not that you turned
over, but you were washed. Washed. Washed in the blood of
Jesus Christ. Because Christ's blood has blotted
out our sins that was against us. That's what made the difference. Only the blood of Christ can
cleanse us from the condemnation of these sins. Only God's blood
can make us holy and without guilt before God. We were by
nature sinners under the just condemnation of God's law. What
made the difference? Paul asked this question in another
place. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Who is it? Who is it that made
you to differ? How is it that you have been
made free from condemnation? It is by God. God made the difference. God
made the difference. Christ has set us free from all
condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
because... because of the gospel. Look at
this in verse 2. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. We'll deal with that second part
a little later. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. This law of the Spirit of life. What is that? What is this? Paul is comparing here two laws. He said the law of the Spirit
of life hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Well, this law of the Spirit,
I'll tell you what it's not. It's not our sanctification.
This is not what makes us free from the law of sin and death.
Our obedience to the Holy Spirit or our yielding ourselves as
instruments of God, this does not make us free. This would be nothing but justification
by works. Nothing but justification by
works. which is opposed to all that the apostle had before taught.
This rather is the law of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which
the Holy Spirit is the author, and of which Christ is the sum
and subject. The gospel. The gospel hath made
us free from the law of sin and death. Therefore, Paul, as he's
already said, that he is not ashamed to proclaim the gospel
of Jesus Christ for it. What? The gospel. The gospel
of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. The gospel that I am preaching
to you today is the power of God unto salvation. Do you realize
this? That no one is saved apart from
hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. No one. There's no one that's
going to be walking around in the woods and one day have an
epiphany and suddenly they're going to just believe. No. No, that's not how it works.
God has chosen the means by which people are saved and it is the
gospel of Jesus Christ by the preaching of the gospel. Look
at Romans chapter 10. Romans, flip over a couple pages,
Romans chapter 10 and verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe on Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed, I report.
So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the law of the
Spirit of life, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter
7, I came not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, for by
the foolishness of preaching By the foolishness, what the
world calls foolishness. Now I'll tell you, to you that
are lost, listen to me. You think this is foolishness.
That's because you're dead. That's because you're under the
condemnation of God. You have no interest in this
because the power of God has not come into your heart and
given you life. The Gospel declares to you who
are sinners, you are under the condemnation of God, and it looms
over your soul, ready to fall. And this must be preached. I'll
tell you, without the bad news, there is no good news. You've
got to have the bad news first. Otherwise, you're not going to
need any good news. The bad news is this, all have
sinned. And all we do is sin. And all
we deserve is hell. But behold, the gospel of God
towards sinners declares also freedom. Freedom from the law
of sin and death by the blood of God's dear Son. The gospel,
the good news, the glad tidings of good things is not a message
of law, but of free grace, not of bondage. and fear, but freedom,
joy, and peace. This is the message of the gospel. Are you a sinner condemned unclean? Are you unworthy? Are you unworthy
to be accepted of God? Then hear the law of the Spirit
of life. The gospel is called the law
for a reason. It's called the law for a reason.
It's called the law in that it's binding. The gospel is binding,
isn't it? Everyone that God purposed to
save shall be saved. How shall they be saved? Well,
God has ordained in a legal way how they shall be saved. By the
representation of Jesus Christ. By the substitution. This is
a binding gospel. It's amazing to me. God has bound
Himself by His own Gospel. He cannot deny Himself what He
is purposed to do, He will do, and He must do. How many times
did Jesus say that? We must needs go through Samaria. Why? There was one there He had
to save. He said, all of those that are
not of this fold, them I also, what? Must bring. It's a binding agreement. But this law of the gospel is
different than the law of sin and death in that it requires
no work from you. The law of sin and death required
you to obey. It required you to be righteous. But the law of the gospel has
been fulfilled in that it required Christ to be righteous for us. for Christ to be our substitute
and die under the condemnation of God for us. The Scripture says, Jesus said,
I am come that you might have life. He that believeth on Me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth
and believeth in Me shall never die. Is that not a binding statement?
Is He not bound to that? Absolutely He's bound to that.
That's a law. That's a principle of grace. He's bound to it. He said it.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my words, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation. But his past is already past,
from death to life. This is a law of life, the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus. And truly those who are under
the law of sin and death, under the condemnation of God, need
the law of the spirit of life. Isn't that, do we not need that
law? Do you this hour need salvation? Do you need it? I'll tell you
what, if you could take it or leave it, you really don't need
it. And of course, that's just your
own opinion, which is worth nothing. It's worth nothing. But I'll tell you, if God the
Holy Spirit ever gets a hold to your heart, you'll know you
need it. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent
take it by force. I must have it, or I die. I must have it. Now then, in
verse 3, he under-explains this whole law of the Spirit in verses
3 and 4. Look at this. He said, For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the gospel, by
hearing of the gospel, the Spirit has come and quickened me and
given me, made me free from the law of sin and death. For, because,
What the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh. This is the first principles
of the gospel. The weakness of the flesh. This
is man's miserable condition. Ever since the fall of man by
nature, man has sought to blame God for his sin. Adam said, the woman you gave
me. You know, if you hadn't given
me that woman, God, I would have been alright. It's her fault. And Eve said, the serpent you
made. It's the serpent's fault. Is this not true of our own experience?
Have we not all blamed our parents, blamed our friends, blamed our
situation, blamed our circumstances? Who are we really blaming? You're
blaming God for your sin. That's what you're doing. You're
pointing at God and you're saying, it's your fault that I am what
I am. The Scriptures are clear. The
Scriptures are clear that where there's no law, there's no transgression. So man says, why did you make
a law then? Blaming God. I've heard this
before. Well, God, if you hadn't put
that tree out there, then none of this would have happened.
It's your fault. The problem with such reasoning
is it doesn't work. God is not going to be blamed
for your sin. Your sin is your sin. And I'll
tell you, it's the only truly thing that you own is your sin. Everything else is given to you
by God's grace and mercy. Everything else you have is a
gift of God. Your sin is the only thing you
have that's your own. This will not work. God is a
sovereign creator, holy and just, and His law is a direct reflection
of Himself, and He is not wrong for demanding His creatures to
be obedient. It was man that sinned, not the
law. The law is not to blame. God
is not to blame. Man is to blame. We rebelled
against God. We transgressed the law of God
that was right and good. Therefore, man by nature is fully
weak, so that there is none righteous, no, not one. none righteous. What a sad condition. What a sad condition the whole
human race has been plunged into. But notice this, what the law
could not do, in it was weak through us, through the flesh.
God, this is the mercy of God, God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin, in the
flesh. Behold the grace of God that
was before sin, before the law of God was broken, God purposed
to save a people for Himself. This is the mercy of God. Therefore in a covenant of free
grace, God covenanted with the Son, to be the Redeemer of all
of His elect, and the Scriptures declaring that God the Father
had from everlasting put us in Christ. Can you not see that
in the first verse? There is therefore no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. When did that take place? Well,
that took place in eternity. That took place in eternity.
God put us in Christ. The purpose then of all time
was to declare this grace. And to show this grace, God sent
His Son into the world. Let me ask you, did God have
to because of you? Was God of necessity sending
His Son in there because you deserved it? By no means did
we deserve such mercy. And if you think you did, again,
you're lost. If you think you deserve this,
it's because you're lost. The purpose of all time and eternity
was declared when Jesus Christ came into the world. For unto
us a child is born, for unto us a son is given. and the government
shall be on his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace, and of the increase of his government, And peace,
there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, upon
his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with justice
and judgment from henceforth and forevermore, the zeal of
the Lord of hosts will perform it. In other words, that's like
the signing of the contract. God says, I will do what I said
I would. Miserable sinner. Behold the
Son of God, Jesus Christ, who has been given to establish justice
and judgment. You see, God cannot just overlook
sin. Every one of Every man has sinned,
even the elect of God. And God, even though He chose
us in Christ, He could not overlook our sins. Our sins, our condemnation,
must be executed. It must be punished. Therefore,
God not willing... I like that. Not willing to impute
our sins to us. imputed them to His Son. He took all of your weakness,
shame, sinful guilt, and put it in His own darling, sinless
Son, and punished it. Punished in His darling Son. For what purpose? To condemn
sin in the flesh. In the flesh of His precious
Son. And Jesus Christ, what is the
result of this? The result of this is found in verse 4, that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Did you get that? That the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in you. Why is there now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ? Because as a result of His being
punished, sin is gone. And His righteousness that He
obtained by His own work, He gives to you. He gives it to
you. And not only gives it to you,
He puts it in you. In you. Do you see it? Can you see it
with these eyes? When you look in the mirror in
the morning, do you just smile and say, ah, there's the righteousness
of God? Absolutely not. I don't feel
it. I don't see it. Not with these
eyes. My circumstances, I can't see
it through these circumstances that I'm living in. How then
do we see it? We see it by faith. Faith is
the substance of things hoped for. Evidence of things what? Not seen. Not seen. If you see the righteousness
of God in you, there's something wrong with that. But I tell you
what, it's no less in you if you believe in Christ. It is
in you because you are in Christ and He is in you. This is the
union that we have with Him. Is there any more condemnation
in Christ? After He suffered, He said it
was finished. Sin was gone. He arose and went
to glory and sits on the throne of heaven. Is there any condemnation
in Him? Then there's no condemnation
in you who believe in Him. This is how we deal with the
struggle in this world. This is the comfort we are given
who are in Christ Jesus. We are weak. We could not obey
the law. But God, in mercy, sent His Son
to condemn sin in the flesh on the cross. And now the righteousness
of God is yours. It's yours. What can take that away from
you? If God purposed it, Christ accomplished
it, the Spirit put it in you and keeps it in you, how then
could you take yourself out of it? Oh, praise God. Praise God. I can't. I had nothing
to do with it. And I still have nothing to do
with it. It's all a matter of grace. And as a result of that grace,
what happens to us who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit? That's not the cause, that's
the result. That's the result of what Christ
has done. You walk after the Spirit. Are you led by the Spirit
of God? Does the Spirit of God testify
these things to you in your heart? Are you identifying with this
or is this something strange to you? Spirit of God identifies
these things to us. It testifies with our spirit
that we are the sons of God. And we walk after these things.
I love these things. These things are not grievous
to me. What have I preached to you this
morning that I've not preached to you before? Anything new? Nothing new. Nothing new. And it's not grievous
to me. And I know to you who hear it
and believe it, it's not grievous to you to hear it again. Why?
You walk after the things of the Spirit. You love the things
of Christ. Things of this world, they're
nothing. Christ is all. And to you who
Christ is all, there is therefore now, right now, presently, no
condemnation to you. God's not looking at you in anger
or judgment. Your judgment's passed. He looks
to you in love and mercy and grace all the days of your life. Pray that God give you comfort
in that, strength.