I'm excited to bring this message
to you tonight. As soon as we read our text,
you'll see why. We're going to be in Romans. If you'll turn with me to Romans
chapter 8. Romans 8 verse 1 is our text,
which says, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation. What a glorious announcement
that is. No condemnation. Now here's what I want us to
see in this verse tonight. First I want us to focus on the
word therefore. I want us to see what it is there
for. And then I want us to focus on
the word condemnation. And I want to see that in light
of being in Christ as opposed to being out of Christ. And then I'd like for us to rejoice
and be happy because of this glorious announcement. And then
we'll be done. Romans 8 verse 1 says, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Brother
Ralph Barnard told Brother Henry Mahan, and Brother Henry told
everybody else, if you see the word therefore in the scripture,
you need to look up a few verses before it and see what it's there
for. Anytime you see that word, you
need to see what it's there for. Therefore means, Because of what
was just said, there is no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus. Now, what was just said? Well,
he said at the end of chapter 7, verse 24, he said, O wretched
man that I am, Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I've been thinking about that
verse. We looked at that in our Bible study Sunday, but I've
been thinking about that since then. I can enter into that verse. I really can. Oh, wretched man
that I am. You ever feel that way? You ever
have those moments where The Lord just reveals you to you
and you're just not high on yourself anymore. You're just not proud
of yourself anymore. And you think, you know, if the
Lord keeps me to the end, that'll be a miracle. That'll be a miracle
of grace and kindness. And if I'm kept to the end, I
can tell you this, I'm going to have to be kept by the power
of God. That's the only way I'm going
to be kept. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Verse 25, he said, I thank God
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's all he could say. That's
all I can say. That's all I can say. I thank
God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Why do you thank God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord, Paul? Because he's the one who delivered
me. That's what He's been telling
us in every chapter up to this point. As a summary of each one,
look at the end of chapter 6. Verse 23 says, For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What does that mean? The
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What does
that mean? Well, look at the end of chapter 5. Verse 19 says, For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign." I love that. Sovereign grace. Through righteousness, unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That means, here's what that
means. It means while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us, even though we were ungodly. God commended His love toward
us by giving His Son for us as a blood-offering payment for
sin. Look at the end of chapter 4. It says in chapter four, verse
25, who, which is talking about Christ. He was delivered for
our offenses and was raised again for our justification. He died to take our sin from
us. And He was raised again to give
His absolute perfection to us. He died to take our sin and was
raised to give us all of His perfection. Look at the end of
chapter 3. Verse 23, it says, For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Where's boasting then? It's excluded. By what law? Of works? No. By the law of believing
on Christ, faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. What that
means is Jesus Christ paid it all. All the debt we owed, sin
had left a crimson stain But He in His own blood washed it
white as snow. Alright, now look at the end
of chapter 2. Chapter 2 verse 28 says, For
He is not a Jew, meaning one of God's people. He is not a
Jew which is one outwardly, just because He was born into that
nation. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly,
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,
but He is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God." We're not God's people,
and we're not found to be in God's favor by doing the deeds
of the letter of the law. We are God's people and we're
found to be in His favor by an operation that He performs on
the heart of His people. He gives a new heart. He gives
a new spirit. One of life, one of love for
Him. One that cries out for mercy
and one that cries out for grace and one that cries out for forgiveness.
How many people do you know, especially in religion, who are
crying out for mercy and crying out for grace and crying out
for forgiveness? That's something that God creates
in His people. He puts a heart and a spirit
that truly does look to Him and truly believes on Him. and truly
rejoices in Him. Now because of all that, because
of the work that Paul has declared of the Father, the Son, and the
Spirit, he said back in chapter 8, if you go with me to Romans
8 verse 1, he said, there is therefore,
because of all that, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Right now, for all those who
are in Christ, there is no condemnation. All right, now let's think about
the word condemnation for a moment. It is not a pleasant word to
think about. But whenever we are declaring,
or whenever Paul is declaring no condemnation, We enter in
more to what that means when we understand what condemnation
is. And before we get into it, we
need to understand the fact that we will never fully enter into
God's condemnation. I have a definition for the word
and I'm gonna give it to you, but we'll never, we'll never
enter in to God's condemnation, the judgment and the sentence. The carrying out of his vengeance.
He said, vengeance is mine and I'm going to repay. In our simple flesh, you just
cannot fathom what that's going to be like. But to give us some
kind of idea, this is what he said. He said, it is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Don't turn
over there, but 2 Thessalonians 1 says that He is coming back
in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and
obey not His gospel. It says they're all going to
be punished with everlasting destruction. Think about that.
Everlasting destruction. Destruction that never ends.
Now why is this condemnation coming to man? Why is it coming
to man? It's coming because of all that
sin that he has declared. He just declared all of that
sin in Romans 7. Sin brings condemnation. And if you'll look with me again
at Romans 5, it says in Romans chapter 5 verse 12, Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned." All men and women have sinned.
Verse 18 right here says, therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. All men and women on this earth,
because of their sin, have earned God's condemnation. God has brought,
He is bringing, and He will bring condemnation to every soul on
this earth. But verse 18 right here tells
us that every soul is going to bear it one of two ways. out
of Christ or in Christ? Verse 18 goes on to say, Even
so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life. What was that free gift? Christ
provided Himself to fall into the hands of the living God for
His people. Either we are going to bear our
own condemnation in our own flesh or Christ has already bore our
condemnation in His own flesh. One of the two. Now this is what
condemnation means. Here's the definition of it. It means blame. It means disapproval. It means judgment. It means conviction. It means curse. It means rebuke. And it means damnation. And that's
exactly what Christ suffered for us on the cross of Calvary.
All the blame was laid on Him. He said, My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me? It's because all the blame was
laid on Him. All of the disapproval of God,
all of that disapproval for our sin, it was laid on Him. Look at Galatians 3 with me. Galatians 3 verse 13 says, Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Curse means condemnation. Condemnation means curse. He was made to be condemned for
us. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed, condemned is every one that hangeth on a tree. He hung
on that tree to the point of death. He was condemned all the
way to death. Verse 14 says that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. He was condemned for us to deliver
us from the condemnation. He was condemned so that we might
never be under the condemnation. All right, now, seeing what condemnation
is, let's enter into what no condemnation is. Alright, back
in Romans 8, verse 1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Out of Christ, for every soul
that goes to meet God, out of Christ, this is what they are
going to be met with. blame, disapproval, judgment, conviction,
curse, rebuke, damnation. But for every soul that goes
to meet God in Christ, it's the exact opposite. It is the exact
opposite of condemnation. And this is what blessed my heart
so much. Do you know how in any given language you have synonyms
and antonyms for words? Alright, a synonym is a word
that means the exact same thing. An antonym is a word that means
the exact opposite. Here are some antonyms for the
word condemnation. In Christ, now all this is in
Christ. For God's people, there is no
condemnation. There is the absolute opposite
of condemnation. This is what we now have in Christ. Praise, applause, approval, commendation,
and eulogy. And the word eulogy means a commendatory
oration of honor, high praise. That's what all of God's people
have in Christ because of what he did for us, because he got
what was owed to us, because he took the blame, the disapproval,
the judgment, the conviction, the curse, the rebuke, Because He took everything that
was owed to us, we get what was owed to Him. And this is what
was owed to Him. We cry, in this we all cry, not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us. But in Him, with Him, this is
what we get. Praise, applause, approval, commendation,
and honor. I love thinking about the fact
that the Scripture says, and if the Scripture says it, it's
so. This is true. All of the angels of heaven rejoice. They all break out in praise,
applause, approval, every time one sinner repents. every single time. Because God
the Father put us in Christ, let me show you our eulogy. This
is the eulogy of all of God's people. This is the commendatory
oration of honor that all of God's people receive in Christ.
Look with me at Matthew 25. Matthew 25 verse 31, it says,
When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy
angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory,
and before Him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. On one side will be all of those
in condemnation, and on the other side will be all those in Christ,
in no condemnation. Verse 33, it says, And he shall
set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then
shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. For I was an hungered and you
gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in. naked and you clothed me, I was
sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee,
or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger and
took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick
or in prison and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and
say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it
to me. Well done. High praise, applause
to you. Now, did we actually do it? No. It's God which worketh in us,
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Christ in us caused
us to do it. He did it for us in us. Verse 41 says, Then shall He
say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me ye cursed,
condemned, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels, For I was in hunger, and you gave me no meat. I was
thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me not in. Naked, and you clothed me not.
Sick and in prison, and you visited me not." What he's saying is,
I put the blame on you. I disapprove. Verse 44, then
shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered,
or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, and in prison,
and did not minister unto thee? That's what the world cries. Yeah, we did do all those things.
Look at all these wonderful things. What do you mean we didn't do
it? Verse 45, Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto
you, Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these,
you did it not to Me. And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment. But the righteous, those that
have been made to be righteous in Christ, those that He appeased
for and interceded for, Those that He already suffered the
condemnation for, they are going to be welcomed into life eternal. In Christ and what God has done
for us in Christ, there is no condemnation left to suffer. Now, I love this story. We're
not going to turn over there, but in John 8 is the story of
that woman who was caught in the act. And all of these Pharisees laid
hold of her and brought her to the Lord and said, look at what
she's done. Now, what do you say about this?
And what does the law say about this? And what are you going
to do about this? And it says, the Lord stooped down and started
writing in the dirt. And one by one, he condemned
every one of them away. And then he stood up and he looked
at that woman and he said, where are all thine accusers? Is there no man left here to
condemn you? And she looked around and she
said, no man, Lord. And he said to her, neither do
I. Why? She was in him. She was in Him. Martin Luther,
I'm going to leave you with this. Martin Luther said, feelings
come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the
Word of God, nothing else is worth believing. Though all my
heart should feel condemned for everything I am and everything
I'm not, Though all my heart should feel
condemned for lack of some sweet token. I don't see any token
of being a child of God in here. Though all my heart should feel
condemned for lack of some sweet token, there is one greater than
my heart, whose word cannot be broken. I'll trust in God's unchanging
word till soul and body sever. For though all things shall pass
away, His Word shall stand forever. And this is what He has said
in His Word. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. Thank God. All right, let's all
stand together.