you would Please turn to the
book of Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 I'm gonna read the first four verses Romans chapter 8 beginning in
verse 1 there is therefore now a 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,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh 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 I'm gonna stop there. It's plenty I've entitled this no condemnation
in Christ Jesus condemnation in Christ Now I do have something
to say at the beginning here because Romans 8 chapter 1 comes
right after Romans chapter 7 and I do have one thing to say
about those who don't seem to get what Paul wrote in Romans
7 and therefore they don't seem to get the transition from Romans
7 to Romans 8 and Please, if you would, pay attention to what
Paul wrote in Romans chapter seven. Paul wrote under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote in the past tense
when he meant the past tense. Paul wrote in the present tense
when he meant in the present tense. And he wrote in the future
tense when he meant the future tense. This is not an imagining. I mean, there are people out
there and I'm, well, there were people out there, they're dead
now, the ones I know, that I have read their works, some of them.
And their sermons, their writings, some of them, their recordings
have blessed me dearly. They preach the gospel. But when
they get to Romans 7, that part here where, you know, Paul talks
in the present tense, of having trouble in the body. They have
a feeling and they say, they state that it, that was in the
past before conversion. It's not so. Paul was writing
in the present tense. That was what was going on in
Paul at that time. Robert Harker, Hawker, excuse
me, didn't feel that way. He put it this way and I don't
know of any better way to put it. He said this, but nothing
can be more plain than that it is Paul's own history that he
writes and his own experience in the very moment of writing
and which the Holy Ghost taught him to instruct the church concerning. And I agree wholeheartedly with
that. people of Israel Didn't have
many battles until they crossed over Jordan into the promised
land That's when the battles began in earnest the people of
God Don't have real any real battles Without they have them
within but they don't have them without until after conversion
When God has brought them in There's no battle between the
law and the spirit when you have no spirit. I'm sorry, that's
just the way it is. Okay, that's one of those battle
of wits with an unarmed opponent, okay? You can't have a battle
with the spirit and the flesh when you only have the flesh.
And once you have, we still have the old man, we still have the
new man. These two are opposed to each
other. There's going to be a battle
within. Anyhow, I listened, I didn't listen, I actually read his sermon,
and he wanted to ignore the last part of Romans 7 while talking
about Romans 8-1. And he wanted, now he didn't
say anything bad about Romans 8-1, but he couldn't talk about
Romans 7 because he didn't think it applied. He backed it up to
Romans chapter 5, saying this is where it all starts. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, yes, it does start there.
That's a valid statement. But if you're going to do that,
go ahead and back all the way up to Romans chapter 1. For I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto
salvation to what everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek. Everything Paul writes is going
right in line with everything else Paul is going to write.
It just boggles my mind that they can be so right on this
and then miss that, and that part scares me because then I
wonder where I'm wrong. And I don't know it. But I do
know this, I recognize this battle Paul has in Romans 7 in myself. And I recognize it for a battle
I didn't have until I was converted. And if you listen to these men
and you read their sermons, you'll hear that them talking about
the battle themselves, but they don't apply it to Romans seven.
And I just, it just, I don't understand, you know, how we
can miss that, but that's how depraved we are. And I mean,
all I can do is I can't preach Romans eight one without looking
at Romans seven. There's no way to do it. Romans 7 is not in a parentheses,
all by itself. See, that's the way free will
people talk about Romans 9. You understand? Romans 8 is about salvation.
Romans 10 is, well, that's where the Roman's road is. That's got
to be about salvation. But Romans 9, don't pay attention
to that. You can't do it. Not, and be
honest. Anyhow, therefore now. There is no condemnation. I don't know of a better statement
than that from my point of view. Therefore, now. Therefore, now. There's the word therefore. You're
supposed to look back and see what it's there for. I'm not
going all the way back to Romans 5, although I could. But I got
to get this done this morning. But here's the question. When
is there no condemnation? Now, now, now. Right after Paul said, oh wretched
man that, what? I am. Present tense. Right after he said that, oh
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? Therefore now, there's no, why
is that? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with a mind, I myself,
serve the law of God. But with the flesh, the law of
sin. Even one of those is in the past
tense. He doesn't say, then with my
mind, I serve the law of God now, but I used to serve the
law of sin in my flesh. Your flesh hasn't changed. We
are to mortify the members. We are to mortify the members.
That's also in the present tense. This is what we do. Why? Because
we have this battle, but it doesn't matter for this part for Romans
eight one. I want to say it. Nevertheless,
there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Nevertheless,
when now, now, Right now. See, Paul's in the
present tense here, and they'll say that. But he's in the present
tense in Romans 7. Are you sure? Well, even if I'm
not sure, the Apostle Paul is sure. Therefore, now. Now. No condemnation. That's a glorious thought. And
I'm willing to bet that the Apostle Paul rejoiced when he wrote those
words down. There is no condemnation to those
which are in Christ Jesus. Now, now, what is this? July the 16th, 2017, there's
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Paul wrote
this a couple thousand years ago. There was no condemnation
then. There's no condemnation now to
those which are in Christ Jesus. Now very quickly, what are we
talking about? There's no what? No condemnation. The word means an adverse sentence. It's a guilty verdict. But it's
a guilty verdict of damnation. That's what the word condemnation
means. It's a guilty verdict. It's a judicial term. Just like a lot of the words
that God uses in this book. I do remember one thing one of
the fellows wrote. He talked about, he says, y'all
use all them big words like sanctification and justification and condemnation. Those are hard words. Yeah, study
to show thyself approved, a workman unto God. These are the words
God used in this book. He used legal terms. Talk about
the law. That's a legal term. We talk
about justification. Not only just as if I'd never
sinned, but if you're justified, you've done everything right. It's not that you haven't done
anything wrong, even though in justification, if you are justified,
you didn't do anything wrong, but you did the right thing.
Where do we get stuff like that? In Christ Jesus and in his word. And this word condemnation means
a guilty verdict condemning guilty verdict. And you as a believer
in Christ don't have guilty verdict against you. Now, right now,
no matter what you've done this morning, no matter what you've
done in the past, no matter what you will do in the future, there
is therefore now no condemnation if you are in Christ Jesus. That is a glorious statement
of grace. The grace of God the Father in
the Son of Jesus Christ. Maybe you got a little condemnation.
No. Paul said none. There's none. No, none. Condemnation. Realize this. Condemnation comes from God.
It's God who is the offended party. It's God who that is sinned
against. Sin is against God, and he said
he won't have it. The soul that sins, it shall
die. But there's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
Actually, it's this, I'm sorry, I said it wrong. The soul that
sins shall surely die, and there is no condemnation to those which
are in Christ Jesus. Both statements are true. Both
statements are true. Someone, somewhere is not condemned
by God. And we're told who? Right here.
Not now. Not now. To them which are in
Christ Jesus. This is good news. But it's not
good news to everyone. Paul didn't address this letter
to everyone. He addressed it to believers
and to saints. Because simply put, if you are
not in Christ Jesus now, you're condemned. You have no claim
to no condemnation now. Is that too simple? No. It's not too plain. It's just
so. I'm going to look for just a
second here, John chapter three. There's only use the words of
Christ on this. John chapter three and verse
18. This is speaking about the only begotten
son of the father. That believeth on him the Son
is not condemned but He that believeth not is condemned already
Why why would such a thing be? because Christ continued he hath
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God That
name that's gonna is exalted above every name now And this
is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world, and men
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that
doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are what? Wrought in God. We are saved by grace through
faith and that's not of ourselves. It's the gift of God. But we are saved by grace through
faith, but that's not the end. We are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, and it is indeed a good work to believe the Son
of the living God. He that believes is not condemned. Christ already said it. Paul's
just repeating what Christ said. Now there is no condemnation
to those which are in Christ Jesus. What does that mean? It
means you believe him. It means you believe his gospel.
It means he has made you alive. He has given you this battle
within your own flesh, but he has given you his righteousness. There is no condemnation now
to them which are in Christ Jesus, because being in Christ means
no condemnation. Now this last phrase of this
first verse, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
There are equally those, if you have an NIV, it might not have
it there, or it might have it there in italics. Because in
some of the complete manuscripts, that part of the verse is left
out. But it's still there in verse
four. And guess what? Paul has been known to write
down things more than once in a chapter. I don't have a problem
with this. Because if it's true in verse
four, it's true in verse one. And it's in the Textus Receptus,
which is what the King James is taken from. I don't have a
problem with it because if it's true once, it's true always.
It is the truth, that's right. This, in this verse, and I do
know some people use it as this, they use this as a qualification.
They want to. That's not what it is. This is
just a description of being in Christ Jesus. Because if you
are in Christ Jesus, you walk not after the flesh, but after
the spirit. That's the truth. That's the
truth of it. We have been freed from the law,
he goes on to say. But some teach, and I do wanna
say this incorrectly, but this is what they teach, that you
can be in Christ and still walk after the flesh and not after
the spirit. That's not what Paul's saying
here. This is not a condition for no condemnation. This is
a description of those who are in, who have no condemnation. A, they walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. B, the reason they walk not after
the flesh but after the spirit is because they are in Christ. We are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. He will see to it that we walk
in them. He puts in you both to will and
to do of his good pleasure What did Paul say so then with my
mind I serve the law of God That's a work of the Spirit We walk
after the Spirit and not after the flesh if we are in Christ
it's a description of Now, very clearly, Romans 8 and 1 is not
a statement about election. It's about those who have been
brought in to Christ. It is about those who have gone
through what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 7, in the past tense and in the
present tense. This is not about being chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. This is about those
who are in Christ Jesus now. There is therefore now no condemnation. He that believes on God's holy
son is not condemned. He that doesn't believe is condemned
already. Christ said it. I read it just a little while
ago. The law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death This is a law of which I am very
glad the law of the spirit of life what in Christ In Christ is life without Christ
is death That's the two opposites In Christ is life That is the
life of the spirit. It's his life He is our life And it has made me free from
the law of sin and death Now this law of sin and death
Is that the law law or is that just the law of sin and death? Well, if you look at verse three,
it sort of gives it away for what the law could not do and
that it was weak through the flesh. I believe this is talking
about the law law. I've heard it both ways. But
what I want to do here is just take a look at Romans seven and
verse nine. For I was alive without the law
once. Now this is Paul speaking in
the past tense. But when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died. Now the commandment had always
been there. Paul had known the commandments. But this is when
he actually truly became to know the commandment. He said, I had
not known lust except the law said thou shalt not covet. The
Lord always said thou shalt not covet. But Paul didn't know it. Until life had come to Saul of
Tarsus Paul did not know it The law of life in Christ has
made me free from the law of sin and death I Was alive without
the law once the understanding of it, but when the commandment
came Sin revived and I died There's no way to talk about Romans 8
1 without bringing up Romans 7 Remember where Paul started in
Romans 7 verse 4 Wherefore my brethren Ye also are become dead
to the law by the body of Christ. I that ye should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death, the law of sin and death. But
now, now, we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein
we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and
not in the oldness of the letter. We are dead to the law by the
body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died, was buried, and rose
again from the dead. We live with him We live in him
we live because of him We have been given the fruit
of the spirit and are dead to the law And Paul explains 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, but not in your flesh, in his flesh. The law couldn't do some things.
The law couldn't make a man holy. All the law could do is show
you where you weren't holy. The law was weak, but through
the flesh. The law wasn't the problem, we
were the problem. Human beings are the problem.
Man is the problem. Man always has been the problem
with the law. The law is holy. In the commandment,
holy, just, and good. And we are none of the above. We're not holy, we're not just,
and we're not good. The law cannot justify us. The law cannot forgive us. The law can't even help us. The law condemns us because we
are weak through the flesh. And we always fail. But God, sending his own son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, Condemn sin in his
own flesh Sin was condemned in him. There's always going to
be a condemnation There's none on those which are in Christ
Why? Because our Lord was condemned
Therefore because of that those in Christ Jesus are are not condemned. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those which are in Christ Jesus. Why? Christ was condemned
2,000 years ago. Verse 4, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the spirit. The righteousness of the law
that we couldn't keep, would be fulfilled in us because our
Lord was condemned for sin. We have now, here's why there's
no condemnation in those which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Here's why we have
the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us in us We have
everything that Christ has Because the father has given us to him
and he has given him to us He is our righteousness First Corinthians says, but of
God are ye in Christ Jesus. It didn't stop there. He describes
who is made unto us. Christ is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because of God, you are in him. That the righteousness of the
law would be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. Romans 10 and verse 4, Paul continues
on from here. says that Jesus Christ is the
end of the law. For Christ is the end of the
law. And some people want to stop
right there, but you can't. Christ is the end of the law,
what? For righteousness to everyone that believeth. Christ is not
the end of the law. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Why? Because he is our righteousness. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those which are in Christ Jesus. And those which are in
Christ Jesus are those which believe Christ Jesus, to them
which believe. I said it, the law is holy and
the commandment holy, just, and good. The law is not ended. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone which believes. To
every believer. Only those whom Christ Jesus,
the good shepherd, has brought in can say the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in them. They believe. And it's only in
Christ, all of it's in Christ. The conclusion of this message
is easy. There's now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus. Even with everything Paul said
in Romans 7, no condemnation. You know that I am carnal, sold
under sin. absolutely no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus. What about what I do? The good
that I would do that I do not. The evil that I wouldn't do that
I do. There's therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus. I love that. Rejoice, there's
no condemnation. Praise God, there's no condemnation. What about sin that dwells in
me? Sin lives in me, in my flesh. Nevertheless, there's no condemnation
to those which are in Christ Jesus. Evil is present in me, no condemnation. How is this possible? Paul stated
it right before this. Who shall deliver me from the
body of what? This death. This war between
the flesh and the spirit. This war that we find, that is
found and admitted to by every true believer if they know what
they're talking about. They know there's a battle within. How am I delivered from this?
I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with a mind I myself
serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin and
rejoice in your hearts because there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Absolutely none. What about what
I do in the future? Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Why? There's no condemnation. Our Lord was condemned. God is
just and forgives us our sins because they were laid on Him. Those that are in Him were condemned
in Him Risen with him and we're forgiven in him There's no condemnation
now if you are in him Rejoice and again I say unto
you rejoice There's therefore now no condemnation To those
which are in Christ Jesus you read the rest of this book. I
Mean the rest of this chapter just chapter 8 and And that's
what Paul gets to. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that what? Condemneth. It's Christ that
died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Who shall separate us from what? The love of Christ. There's no
condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus, because they
are in the love of Christ. Shall tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword? No. In all these things, we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Therefore, now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Lord, help us. always to lay
hold of this and to rejoice in your holy name for all the blessings
you've given to us through your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you. Thank you. We are grieved by sin, but we
need to rejoice in you. We hate the garment spotted by
the flesh, but we are always to praise you for there is no
condemnation now for those which are in thy son. We thank you
and praise you. Be with Walter as he comes to
speak. Help us to understand your word
as we walk in this world. In Christ's name.