I'll be reading from Romans chapter
8 this morning, the book of Romans chapter 8. I hope you'll follow
along with me. I'll begin with the first verse
in Romans chapter 8, which reads, 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. And in Romans chapter 7, the
Apostle Paul is describing the inward conflict and struggles
of every believer. His own inward struggles with
sin. And this is the struggle and
the conflict which every true believer has. He says things
like this in verse 15 and 16. of chapter 7, that which I do
I allow not, or I don't know why I do what I do. He says,
what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that's what
I do. In other words, he says, I don't
seem to be able to do what I want to do, and I do what I don't
want to do. He said, it's sin in me. I'm
full of sin. Down in verse 24, or verse 23,
he says there's a a war going on in my mind. Verse 24, oh,
he says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death, or this sinful old man that resides in
me? Wretched man that I am. Now,
Paul wrote that as a believer, not speaking of his past, but
he's speaking of himself right then and there. And this is something
which every true believer has in common with Paul, a struggle
with the sin within them. And so Paul says, beginning in
chapter 8, verse 1, a word of comfort to those who have this
struggle, those who condemn themselves for the sin that's within them.
He said, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. I want you to turn with me to
Luke chapter 7, the Gospel of Luke chapter 7. He says, there
is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. If you and
I will blame ourselves for our sin, if we will condemn ourselves,
we will not be condemned by God. We will not be blamed by God. If we will take the blame then
the Lord Jesus Christ will deliver us from that blame. You know,
modern psychology and psychiatry, their sole purpose is to remove
guilt from people. People come in with guilt and
problems, and modern psychiatry and psychology tries to shift
the blame. They tell people, that the reason
they are like they are is because of something that happened to
them early in life. They blame it on their parents
or circumstances or whatever. In other words, you're telling
people not to take the blame. You can't help it. You are like
you are because something happened. Someone did something to you.
Don't take the blame. Shift the blame and you'll get
peace. is no peace. I'll have you know
that the leading profession in suicide, that profession which
leads all others in suicide rate, is psychiatry. So they don't
have the answers. But I'm here to tell you from
God's Word, if you will condemn yourselves, if you will take
the blame, then you will not be condemned by God. If you go
to God as a condemned sinner, take the blame. You will find
mercy at the hands of God. And he says, there is therefore
now no condemnation. Luke chapter 7 is a good example
of this. Verse 29 says, all the people
that heard Christ, publicans. Now, the publicans were generally
acknowledged as some of the most wicked men of their day. It says they justified God being
baptized with the baptism of John. Read on, verse 30. But the Pharisees and lawyers,
now those were the strict, moral, upstanding people of their day. It says they rejected the counsel
of God against themselves being not baptized of John. So it says
the publicans, the sinners, Common people justified God, that is,
they declared God to be right in everything He said about them. And they were baptized with the
baptism of John, that is, repentance toward God. But Pharisees, these
self-righteous religious people who did not think themselves
to be sinners, that's what they said to Christ one day, we be
not sinners. Well, they rejected the counsel
of God against themselves. So if you and I will take the
blame, all who mourn their guilt and their shame and take the
blame, all who call upon God for mercy, that is, those who
are guilty, they will see and hear of the mercy of God in Christ. Romans 8 verse 1 says, There
is therefore now no condemnation. to them which are in Christ."
There was a woman in the Gospels, it says, that was caught in the
act of adultery. Some men brought her in rudely
while Christ was preaching in the temple and thrust her down
in the midst of that crowd and said, this woman is caught in
the very act of adultery. Now, Moses says in the law, she's
to be stoned. What do you say? The Lord Jesus
Christ is the one who wrote the law which Moses received. He
is none other than God Almighty. He is the lawgiver. He is the
judge. They asked him, not knowing who
he was, but they asked him, what do you say? Moses said. Well,
he stooped down in the dust and began to write on the ground. And he wrote things which apparently
convicted the consciences of those pharisaical men who brought
this woman in, and beginning with the eldest to the youngest,
they all left. Because Christ wrote things that
He knew about them, or perhaps He wrote the law which they were
guilty of breaking, and laws which they were not aware of,
but He made them aware of. The law He wrote. And they all
left. Well, when they were all gone,
all the accusers of this woman, now she's guilty. She was caught
in the act. She is guilty. And the law says
she is to be condemned, to be stoned. And our Lord said this
to that woman, Woman, where are thine accusers? Doth no man accuse
thee? And she looked around and there
was no accusers around. And she said, No man, Lord. And
He said, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one, the one who wrote the law, is the only one who can
declare us guiltless, innocent from breaking that law, free
from its condemnation. It says, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them who are in Christ. What does that mean,
to be in Christ? Well, it means to be in Christ
by God's sovereign electing purpose. God's covenant which He made
concerning some, which He made with Christ before the world
began. That's what Ephesians chapter
1 says about God's people. He said He had chosen them in
Christ before the foundation of the world. In Christ. If you
read Ephesians 1 and Colossians 1 and so all through the epistles,
you'll find this phrase by the Apostle, in Christ. Christ. Salvation is to be found in Christ. The purpose of God concerning
Christ, that God gave to Christ a people before the world began,
and He was their representative. He was their substitute. He was
the one who came to this earth to represent them, and everything
He did, He did for them. They were in Him, in His mind, in His heart,
in His love, in the covenant of God, the purpose of God, in
Christ by His representation of them, in Christ by faith.
Everyone whom God gave to Christ in that covenant, everyone whom
Christ went to the Calvary's cross and shed His blood for
the remission of their sins, every one of them, the Holy Spirit
in time gives them faith in Christ. He puts in them this regenerating
faith. And so he says, everyone who
is in Christ, all those who believe Christ, all those who are found
in Him, not having, and I'm quoting Scripture, not having their own
righteousness which is of the law, but that righteousness which
is by faith of Christ. They are found in Christ in that
great day, accounted holy by God. righteous by God, accepted
by God because of Christ. They are accepted, Ephesians
1 verse 6 says, in the Beloved. Not because of themselves, not
because of righteousness they produced, but because Jesus Christ
did what He did for them. They were in Him when He came
to this earth. They were in Him when He paid
that penalty on Calvary's tree. They are in him now, seated with
Christ, the scripture says, in the heavenly. Though they be
on earth, yet Christ their representative is in heaven itself, interceding
for them, representing them, the mediator of them, the covenant
head. And they are found, accepted,
and found in Christ. And it goes on to say, just to
make a statement of fact in verse 1, "...who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit." Those who are in Christ walk
not after the flesh, but in the Spirit, after the Spirit. The
fact of the matter is, God's people, they are not after, or
that is, pursuing the things of this world. The Lord said
that in His Word, "...love not the world, neither the things
of the world." Whosoever loves the world is an enemy of God. The friendship of this world
is enmity with God. So God's people are not in love
with this world, anything about it. They're not after it. They
don't pursue it. Oh, they enjoy some things here,
but they seek another world, another city, Hebrews says, a
heavenly one. after the things of God. Colossians
chapter 2 says their affection is set on things above, not on
things on the earth. Colossians chapter 3, that is.
And so they walk after the Spirit that is led by this Holy Spirit
of God. And the chief leadership of the
Holy Spirit is to take the things of Christ and show them unto
people. That's John chapter 14 and John
16, which our Lord said the Holy Spirit will lead and guide into
all truth. The truth as it is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The things of Christ. And they
are interested in and in love with the things of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel. The Gospel. Christ is their life. walk after
the Spirit, after the leadership of the Holy Spirit, bearing the
fruit of the Spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ, to them which walk not after
the flesh, but after the Holy Spirit. Until next Sunday, may
the Lord bless this word to your understanding. Amen. Thank you.