Let's open our Bibles again to
Romans chapter 8. The title of the message this
morning is No Condemnation. We're getting ready in our study
through the book of Romans to look at one of the highest peaks
in the mountain range of God's Word. Brother Henry said that
Romans 8 is to the New Testament, but Isaiah 53 is to the Old Testament. I believe he's right. This chapter,
through the ages, has brought so much comfort and encouragement
to God's people because it clearly lays out this truth that since
salvation is in Christ, it's in His person, it's in His work,
it's in His sacrifice, then nothing can take away the salvation of
God's elect. Anyone who believes in Christ,
whose faith is in Christ, can never lose their salvation because
Christ is the victorious, successful Savior. As a man, he obeyed God's
law perfectly. In every jot, in every tittle,
thought, word, and deed, he obeyed God's law as the representative
of his people. And God's imputed that righteousness.
He's imputed that obedience to them so that they're righteous.
It's their righteousness. It belongs to them. It's theirs.
Because God gave it to them. And a righteous person cannot
be condemned. God's people, they weren't made
righteous because of anything they did. They're made righteous
because of what Christ did for them. Then we can't mar and lose
that righteousness by anything we do either. It's all in Christ. And salvation is received not
by works, not earned by works. It's received, isn't it? perceived
by faith. Well, then our sinful works can't
cause us to lose that salvation because it's by faith in Christ.
And Christ has put the sin of his people away by the blood
of his sacrifice, he's made the sin of his people to no longer
exist. It's gone. Sin is gone. So God's
justice is not interested in looking for anyone for whom Christ
died. Now, justice will never accuse
the believer. Satan will accuse the believer,
but God's justice won't. The law won't, but Satan will. He'll accuse us. He's the accuser
of the brethren. And our own minds will accuse
us. We don't have to go too far to look for an accuser, do we?
No, our own minds, our own conscience will accuse us. But when God's
justice hears those accusations, you know what God's justice says?
What's he? It's gone. The blood of Christ
has blotted it out. And that's where Paul picks up
here in Romans chapter eight. Now, you remember at the end
of chapter seven, Paul gave us the experience of every believer. It's the experience of the civil
war that goes on inside us between the old man and the new man constantly
fighting against each other. In the believer, there's a new
man, a new man that's been born of God. He'd been born from the
holy seed of the word of God. And that man's holy because he's
born from a holy seed. That new man cannot sin because
he has the holy nature of his heavenly father. Just like this
flesh has the nature of a fleshly father. The new man has the nature
of a heavenly father. He can't sin. The child he produces
can't sin either. That new man will never sin.
He'll never choose sin and he'll never choose my own works. He'll always choose Christ. He'll
always trust Christ. He'll always love Christ. He'll
always rest in Christ. But that old man of the flesh
is still there, isn't he? He's alive and well. And he'll
never be anything but flesh. The new man, spirit, he'll never
be anything but spirit. But that fleshly man, he'll never
be anything but flesh. He'll never do anything but sin.
He'll never choose any way but sin. He'll never choose mercy.
He'll never choose grace. He'll never choose to submit
himself to the righteousness of Christ. He'll always want
his own works. He'll always want to live in
his own sin, his own rebellion. Now those two men are opposites,
and they will never, ever, ever get along. They will constantly
war against each other with all they've got. And that constant
civil war just wears a person out, doesn't it? It just wears
you down. It just discourages us. Oh, I wish I wasn't like
this. I hate that I'm this way. When
I look inside myself, all I can see is sin. It's so discouraging. I don't want to sin. But when
I look at myself, that's all I see. It's so discouraging.
Now, that's the civil war that Paul's explaining. That's the
war we've got to fight. And it's an accurate description.
And that battle is not going to be easily won. It's a long,
tough battle. So now in chapter eight, Paul
gives us something to encourage us, to comfort us in this fight.
No matter how much of your sin you see, and certainly if you
look at yourself, that's all you're gonna see, but no matter
how much sin you see in yourself, believer, you remember this.
Yes, when you look at yourself, that's accurate to see sin in
yourself, but you remember this. There's no condemnation to those
who believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 1, 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. Now in
this civil war, the old man, he's going to do everything he
can to make us feel guilty about our sin. He finds out that new
man hates sin. that he finds out that new man
is innocent, righteous and holy and cannot sin, that old man's
going to do everything he can do to make that new man feel
guilty. He's going to just constantly be making us feel guilty about
our sin. And when we do, that old man,
he's going to come and he's going to whisper into our ear, now
turn back to the law. Yeah, you can't keep all the
law, but keep some of them. Just pick out a few and keep
them. And even if you just keep them for a little while, you'll
feel better about yourself. And that's a lie? Oh, that's a lie. The more we try to go back to
the law and keep some of the law so we'll feel better about
ourselves, the worse we'll feel. Because we keep failing. All
we can do is sin. We can't do anything right. And
there is nothing worse than that awful, horrible feeling of guilt. Just knowing, I'm guilty. I did that. And the dread of
what's coming. What I deserve because of it.
So Paul reminds every believer, when you find yourself in this
spot, in that civil war that you're in, you remember this.
There's no condemnation in Christ. Because Christ made his people
not guilty. Look over verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies it. If
God has justified you, if you're justified in Christ, you're made
not guilty. And innocent people never have
to fear going to the courthouse to appear before the judge. They're
innocent. There's nothing the judge could
condemn them for. But you'll notice in our case, Paul doesn't
tell us, don't worry, there's nothing condemnable about you.
Oh, yeah, there is. We've got plenty of sin to condemn
us, don't we? But God's justice will never
condemn us. Now, Christ died for us at home. Christ took the
sin of His people away from them, and He made it His sin. He was
made sin for them. He made the sin of His people
to be His sin, and He suffered all that God's justice required
for that sin. Christ, our substitute, was the
one who was condemned. He was condemned already for
the sin of His people, so there's no condemnation left for them. Christ suffered it all. Look
at verse 34 in Romans 8. Who is He that condemned Him?
Here's why there's no condemnation. 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. God is just. Then he's not going to condemn
anybody that Christ died for. Their sin has already been condemned.
Their sin's already been punished in the person of their substitute.
The justice of a holy God will never allow punishment for the
same sin twice. That would be unjust. God's just.
So keep looking to Christ. In this civil war, this is what
Paul's telling us. You just keep trusting Christ to be all of
your salvation. He is all you need. That's what
he's telling us here. There's no condemnation. Now,
this is my prayer. That somebody here is thinking,
I'd sure like to know that there's no condemnation for me, for my
sin. I'd like to know that. I can
see from God's Word, this is certain, there's no condemnation
for somebody. What I'd like to know is, is
there no condemnation for me? Is there a way I can know that?
Do you know there is? There is. God's Word gives us
a description of the people who have no condemnation. There's
a twofold description here. Number one, there's therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. If you're
in Christ, there's no condemnation. Now, what does it mean to be
in Christ? It is so simple. To be in Christ
is to be like an unborn baby is in his mother. That baby is
what his mama is. That's right. You know, the saying,
you are what you eat. That baby is what his mama is
because he is what she is. That baby lives because his mama
lives. He lives through a union with
his mother. That baby, you want me to tell
you where that baby goes? That baby goes everywhere his
mama goes. You can't get it, you, ladies,
you've been pregnant. Wouldn't you like five minutes
to breathe of that baby kicking your lungs? You can't, can you?
That baby goes everywhere you go because that baby's in you.
Everything about that unborn baby, Everything is completely
dependent upon his mama because he's in it. That's what it is
to be in Christ. That's how the believer is in
Christ. The believer is what Christ is
because we're joined to him by faith. We have that vital union
with him. The believer lives because Christ
our Savior lives. We've been created. We've been
born again. in Christ Jesus. So we go where our Savior goes
because we're in Him. When He obeyed the law, we did
too. When He suffered and died to satisfy God's justice, we
did too if we're in Him. And when He rose again for our
justification, we arose again too if we're in Him. The believer
is in Christ and goes everywhere Christ goes so much The scripture
says, even right now, as we're sitting here in this room, every
believer sitting here in one of these chairs at this very
moment is seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We go where He goes. Everything
about the believer's life is dependent upon the Lord Jesus
Christ because we're human. We are what He is. He's the head,
we're the body. That's how we have union with
Him. And the Old Testament, gives us many. I'll give you two very
good, clear illustrations of safety and security. No condemnation
in Christ. The first one, the Ark of Noah.
God told Noah, he's going to destroy the world with a flood. Noah, you build an ark. He gave
him the exact, everything, all the instructions about that ark
were exact. Noah got to building an ark.
When that ark was finished, God called Noah into the ark. And
God shut the door. Not one drop of rain. That rain, remember, is God's
wrath upon sin on this earth. Not one drop of God's wrath fell
upon this earth until Noah was safe in the ark. And the ark
was shut. The door was shut. And once that
ark was shut and Noah was in the ark, then the floodgates
opened. God's wrath poured out upon this
earth And God destroyed this earth with water. Noah wasn't
spared from God's wrath because Noah didn't have any sin. Noah
wasn't spared because he's better than everybody else. Noah was
exactly the same as everybody else. He had plenty of sin. The
thoughts of his mind were only evil continually, just like his
neighbor that perished in the flood. Why was Noah spared? God's grace. He found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. And in God's grace, God provided
Noah a refuge, that ark. And that ark bore all of God's
wrath against the sin of Noah. That's why Noah was spared from
God's wrath against his sin. He was in the ark, and the ark
bore all of God's wrath for him. And Noah lived because the ark
took all that wrath. Now, besides all the animals,
there were eight souls in that ark, weren't there? Somebody
could have been in that ark. And I'm sure it sounded awful.
They'd never heard rain before. All the people that they knew
were banging on that ark, you know, wanting to get in. They
heard these things. And they could have grown terrified.
I could understand if they did, couldn't you? Just grown terrified.
And they could keep listening, trying to hear through that wood,
you know. Is judgment coming for me? I mean, I know I deserve
it. God said you'd be safe in the ark. What if some of it gets
through and gets to me anyway, kills me anyway? They could be
terrified. They know I swim. They've never
seen bodies of water there before. They could have been checking
that ark for leaks, thinking, I know God said you're safe in
here, but God couldn't finally realize what I am, and I'm going
to perish anyway, because this ark's going to take on water
and sink. They could have been terrified by that. They could
have got them a bunch of buckets and been all the time going looking
for leaks in the ark, ready to bail water at any moment. Or,
you know what they could do? They could just rest in the ark.
Whatever it was they were supposed to do on that ark, they could
take care of the animals, do whatever they could do, and they could
just rest, knowing they're secure in the ark, and wait for God's
wrath to subside. But you know what? Either way,
they're safe. Not because they bailed water.
They were safe because the ark kept them safe. They were safe
in the ark and they never did have to bail a drop of water
because the ark was their refuge. And that ark is a picture of
salvation in Christ. The believer is utterly, completely,
totally safe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore the condemnation
of his people and not a drop of it will ever fall on them.
Just like no rain ever fell on Noah. The second illustration,
the city refuge. Now, you know how the cities
of refuge worked. Two men, two neighbors, friends,
were out working in the forest and they were clearing some trees,
clearing some land. And they're chopping wood and
an axe head flies off one of them and hits his friend in the
head and kills him. Well, he didn't mean to. I mean,
it's not cold-blooded murder. He didn't mean to, but it happened.
He killed his friend. He's the manslayer. And the family
of that dead, you know, they could come kill that poor guy.
And justice would never say a word about it. The revenger of blood
could come kill somebody who killed their family. And the
manslayer, knowing he could be killed, he'd flee for refuge
to the city of refuge. Now, if the revenger of blood
caught him before he got to the city, the revenger could kill
him. But, if the manslayer made it safe inside the walls, that
city of refuge, The revenger of blood could not touch him.
The law forbid it. Now the man sayer, he's safe
in the city. Now he could get up every morning. He could climb that wall, look
out over the wall, and see if the revenger of blood was still
there. Every morning he'd find the revenger still there. He
wants vengeance. Would you leave? The revenger
didn't leave. He's going to see him every morning.
He could try to negotiate with the revenger of blood and say,
you know, I didn't mean it. Won't you just let me go? Won't
you just forget about this? And he won't. The revenger is
set on blood. He wants vengeance for his lost
loved ones. The manslayer could all the time
be warned. He would go around checking the walls and checking
the gates. He just could just be sure the revenger of blood
is going to climb in here. I mean, you know, bust down a
gate. He's going to climb over the wall and I know I'm supposed
to be safe in here, but he's going to get me. And he could
live in utter fear that that revenger is going to come in
there where he's not supposed to be and get him. Or the manslayer
could just rest in that city. He's safe in the city. He could
pass the time. He could get him a job in one
of the shops and pass the time. He could make some friends and
go have a cup of coffee with them. And he could wait for the
year of jubilee or for the death of the high priest. when he'd
be set free from that city of refuge and the revenger couldn't
touch him. But either way, the manslayer is safe because he's
in the city of refuge. He's not safe because he's trying
to shore up the walls. He's not safe because he's trying to put
extra locks on the gates. He's safe because he's in the city
of refuge. That's a picture of the believer
being safe from condemnation in Christ. The difference is
this. Christ, our high priest, already
has died and he died to make his people not guilty. So there's
no condemnation. We're safe in Christ. Now, that's
the illustration. Here's the application. I can spend a lot of my time
looking at my sin, looking at the things that I think and desire
and I do and I say I could spend a lot of time looking at my sin.
And I could spend a lot of time worrying about how much condemnation
I really deserve. I could, because of my sin, it's
real, I'm not making it up, and actually I'm not even seeing
it as bad as it is, but I could keep looking at my sin and just
live in utter fear. God's going to strike me down
with a lightning bolt at any moment. Doesn't that bring shame upon
the character of God? For God to say, I took your sins
away from you and punished them and your son, but for me still
to go around all the time thinking God's going to get me anyway.
What shame that brings on God's character. But I could do that,
worrying about my sin. Or, I could rest in Christ myself,
who bore all of the condemnation my sin deserves. He already bore
it. He took it away. There's no condemnation left.
I could, despite all of my sins, I could rest in Christ my righteousness,
who's made me righteous, who's made me not guilty before God.
Christ took all the condemnation that I deserve, and He suffered
it all, and He died to satisfy God's justice for me. Then that
lets me just rest in Christ. Not because of anything I've
done or not done, but because of who He is. If we're in Christ
Jesus, there's no reason to fear condemnation for our sins. Since
Christ has justified us, we're free from condemnation right
now. You don't have to wait till you
die and wake in glory to be free from condemnation. Right now,
the believer is free from condemnation. There's no condemnation. None.
Because we're in Christ Jesus. He bore it all away. Right here
is the second description of the people who have no condemnation.
It's those who don't walk after the flesh. but after the spirit. All right. What does that mean?
What does it mean to not walk after the flesh? Well, to walk
after the flesh, it's not just going through this life sinning.
It's not just saying, well, you know, my practice is to sin.
Well, of course, that's the case. I mean, we know that's what we're
going to. Of course, my practice is sin. Of course, everything
I do is sin. That's the civil war I'm fighting.
That's just a given. I sin. This word walk, it means
the way that you're going, but it also means what you're taking
up with. To walk after the flesh means that we try to earn some
spiritual blessing, some salvation, some spiritual blessing, some
advantage with God by deeds that are done in this body of flesh.
And scripture gives us a very precise definition of what it
is to walk in the flesh, the works of the flesh. Remember
when God called Abraham aside that night, and he said, Abraham,
you're going to have a son. You and Sarah, you're going to
have a son. I'm going to give him to you. Well, years passed. Sarah and
Abraham had no son. And Sarah told Abraham, they
were eating dinner one night. She said, Abraham, this thing's
not happening. God must have meant for us to
do something here. I can't have a child. I'm too
old. Tell you what let's do. Let's help God out. You marry
my slave, Hagar. She'll have you a son. That's
what we should do. That's the way God must have
meant for us to have a son. Well, Abraham did that. He married
Hagar. Sure enough, Hagar had him a
son. Ishmael wasn't the son God promised,
was he? No, he was the son of the flesh. Ishmael was the child
produced by the flesh. That's walking in the flesh.
Walking in the flesh is trying to help God accomplish His purpose
of redemption by doing something, to keep the law, by doing something
to make it easier to save us. That's walking in the flesh.
Look at Galatians chapter 4. I'll show you that. Galatians
4. Verse 22. Well, look at verse 21. Tell
me ye that desire to be under the law. Do you desire to be
under the law to make yourself more savable? Do you not hear
the law? For it's written that Abraham
had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But
he who was of the bondmaid or bondwoman was born after the
flesh. But he of the free woman was
by promise. That's what it is to be after
the flesh. It's the child who's born by
the activity of the flesh, trying to help God out by doing our
part. But Paul goes on to tell us, no believers of the flesh. Every believer is like Isaac.
They're all a child of promise. It's not in the doing of the
flesh, it's by God's doing, by God's grace and God's power in
his people. Verse 28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. So to walk in the flesh, It's
not just walking in the flesh and reveling in sin and enjoying
sin, never thinking about God. No, to walk in the flesh is to
try to please God, try to earn something from God by what we
do in the flesh. But to walk in the spirit is
to walk, trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting him to be everything
in salvation. Luke Colossians chapter two.
To walk in the Spirit is to continue walking by faith. The same way
that we started in Christ. Colossians 2 verse 6. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Now how did you begin,
how did you first come to Christ? Well you came to Christ without
any of your work to do. You came to Him by faith. He
said come, you came. He said, submit, you submit.
He said, quit your work, you quit your work. You came to him
by faith without any of your works. Well, walking in the spirit
is to continue walking, is to continue going forward by faith
without any of our works ever being added to it. We don't add
our works to it for our sanctification. Not like we came to Christ by
faith for our justification and then we keep ourselves holy by
what we do afterwards. No, to walk in the spirit is
to continue walking. by faith in Christ, trusting
Him to be everything I need. Now remember this word walk,
it means the way that you're going and what you're taking
up with. Well, walking in the Spirit means
Christ is the way in which you go. And you're taken up with
Christ. That's to walk in the Spirit.
It's to trust Christ to be your justification, your sanctification.
To trust Christ to be your sacrifice for sin. To trust Christ as the
way to God. to trust Christ to be your husband,
to trust Christ to be your provider, to trust Christ to be the shelter
that you hide in, to trust Him as all your acceptance with God.
Now, when we walk in the Spirit, we still do things with these
fleshly bodies, don't we? I mean, we attempt to worship
the Lord in our fleshly bodies. Everybody got up this morning
and got this flesh ready to come to service today. You're sitting
there in a fleshly body. We attempt to worship the Lord
in a fleshly body. You serve the Lord. Do things
that you do in service of the Lord in a fleshly body. Mike
got up here and sang. He did it in a fleshly body.
He did that in service to the Lord. We do it in a fleshly body. But to walk in the Spirit means
this. That we don't trust any of those things. To add to our
salvation. To make us more accepted. To
add to our standing with God. To walk in the Spirit means that
everything, it's all Christ. Our salvation, our acceptance,
our standing before God is all Christ. To walk in the Spirit
means I don't have to do my part to help God out. Christ already
did my part for me. I just trust Him. That's walking
in the Spirit. And I want to walk in the Spirit,
don't you? I don't want to walk in the flesh.
Because walking in the flesh will always bring death. But
walking in the Spirit always brings life. Look back in our
text, Romans 8, verse 2. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. Now here when Paul talks about
a law, you're not talking about the written law of God. You're
not talking about the, sometimes law means the word of God. You're
not talking about the word of God. He's talking about the law
of sin and the law of the spirit, like a law of gravity. It's a
law of nature. You know, what goes up must come
down. That's a law of nature, isn't it? And you can't change
it. Well, anyone who's walking in the flesh, there's a law that
comes from that. Anybody who's trying to earn
their salvation by what they do in the flesh, they're under
the law of sin. And that law of sin always produces
death. It can't do anything else. It's
a law. Sin, activity of this flesh,
always produces death. The law demands death for sin,
and everything done in this flesh is sin. But anyone who's walking
in the Spirit, anyone who's trusting Christ to be all of their salvation,
they're under the law of the Spirit. And that law of the Spirit
can only produce one thing. It can only produce life. Christ
already obeyed the law first. He died to pay for their sin.
And the result of Christ's work for his people every single time
is life. It's a law that cannot be changed. So what is Paul telling us here?
Quit walking in the flesh. Quit looking to what you can
do. Quit looking to the law and look to Christ. Because listen,
in the flesh, the law cannot do anything for me. Verse 3. for what the law could
not do, and that it was weak through the flesh." Now, there's
no problem with the law. The problem is with our flesh.
There's no weakness in the law. The weakness is in our flesh.
Our flesh is so weak and sinful, it's impossible for us to keep
the law. The law can show us the requirements,
but it can never give us the ability to do them. The law can
tell us, But the law can't give us a heart
of love, can it? All the law can do is give us
the requirements. Now, I'll give you an example. Everybody here,
except our brand new drivers, I hope, can understand. You go
out on the highway. You see a speed limit sign. You
don't have to go very far from this building today till you
see a speed limit sign. I see those signs. I mean, it's
not like I don't see them. I see them. I always go over
them. Always. I just, you know the
song, I can't drive 55. I can't do it. I mean, I just,
it's not that I don't know the law and there's nothing wrong
with the sign. The sign says specifically what
the law says. My problem is my nature. I can't do it. That's what it
is with God's law. God's law cannot save There's
no blessing to be found in us, in this flesh, trying to keep
God's law. The law, we can't keep it. It can't justify us
and it can't sanctify us. I keep saying this over and over
and over again. The law cannot justify a lost man. We can't
earn justification, make ourselves not guilty by keeping the law.
And the law can't sanctify a saved man. The law can't keep us, make
us holy, because we can't keep it. In this flesh, the law cannot
do anything for me. All it can do is condemn me.
But now listen, in the flesh, the law can't do anything for
me. In Christ, the law can't do anything to me. Look here
at the end of the rest of verse three. God sending his own son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh. The law cannot do anything to
me if I'm walking in the spirit, if I'm trusting Christ. Christ
came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He didn't come in sinful
flesh. He came in the likeness of it.
He was a real man, a real man. God became a real human being. And he came in that likeness
of sinful flesh to do what we could never do. See, he's not
weak. No, he came to do what he came
to do. He made his people righteous.
I don't know where I found this. It may have been from Matthew
Henry, but let me give you a threefold outline on this verse. God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. Number one, how did Christ appear? God sent him in the likeness
of sinful flesh. God sent him to be a representative
of a sinful people. who were in their sinful flesh.
Christ took on him the nature of the people that he came to
save. And as a man, he kept God's law. He kept it not for himself,
but he kept it for his people to make them righteous. See,
sin came by man, didn't it? Sin came by Adam. Well, righteousness
is going to come by a man too. The man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how he appeared. Second, why did Christ come?
He came for sin. You'll notice in your center
reference there that those two words for sin means for a sacrifice
for sin. Christ came as a sacrifice for
the sin of his people. He didn't come try to save anybody.
He didn't come and die for all of Adam's race, hoping somebody
might believe him. No, he came to save his race.
He came to put away the sin of his people by the sacrifice of
himself. The sacrifices of the Old Testament
were never for everybody in general, were they? They were always for
somebody, for the firstborn, for Israel, for the different
tribes, whatever. They're always for somebody. Christ's sacrifice
was for somebody too. It's for the sin of His people.
And He put their sin away. That's why He came. Well, third,
what's the result of Christ's coming? What's the result of
His appearing? Sin was condemned in the flesh. The power of sin
over God's people was broken by the death of Christ. Sin can
no longer condemn anyone for whom Christ died, because Christ
died as their substitute. Now, sin still lives in God's
people. Sin still lives in us. That's
why we got this civil war. Sin lives in us. But sin cannot
condemn us. Now, if Christ died for us, He
can, because the substitute has already been condemned. Christ
took the power of sin away. The power of sin to condemn His
people, He took it away. by dying in their stead. Now
we'll still condemn ourselves for our sin. We'll still hate
ourselves for our sin. But God will never condemn us.
Because God says there's nothing left to condemn. Christ took
it all away. So in the flesh, I can't keep
the law. I can't fulfill righteousness
in the flesh. But Christ can. And not only can He, He did. Verse 4. That the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. The believer has already fully
satisfied the law. Quit looking to it. If you believe
Christ, if you have faith in Christ, you've already kept it
completely and fully. The law doesn't have anything
else to say to you. You fulfilled it in the person
of your representative. And the believer is righteous.
Not because it's been fulfilled by us, because we did something.
No, it's been fulfilled in us. It's been fulfilled in us by
Christ our substitute. It's been put in us when God
caused the new nature to be born in us. Righteousness was fulfilled
by Christ's obedience to the law. And we who believe fulfilled
it in us. We've got to go back to being
in Him, through faith in Him. So if we don't try to keep the
law, do you want to know? Are you under condemnation? Is
there any condemnation for you? Well, we don't try to keep the
law. We don't try to keep the law in order to save ourselves. We don't try to keep the law
to make ourselves more saved, to make us better than somebody
else. We don't try to keep the law and live a moral, perfect
life so God will bless me more than He will somebody else. We're
not trying to do that. But we simply rest in Christ.
He's my righteousness. He's my sanctification. He's
my sacrifice. He's all my salvation. He's already
accomplished all those things for His people. If that's our
faith, if that's our confidence, if that's where we're resting,
then we're walking in the Spirit. And we have no condemnation.
There is therefore, right now, at this moment, no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus to walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. May God make that so that we'll
quit this actions of the flesh and start resting in Christ.
Resting in Christ is walking in the Spirit. Let's bow and
pray. Our Father, how we thank you
for this precious portion of your Word, this clear statement
that cannot be mistaken. There's no condemnation to those
which are in Christ Jesus. Father, how we thank you. How
we thank You for our Lord Jesus Christ who came and did for His
people what they could never do. Made them righteous, put
their sin away by His sacrifice. Father, how we thank You. What
unspeakable mercy and grace that You'd send Your Son to die for
sinners, to die for rebels against You and reconcile us to You through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, Christ is all. We see
that so clearly in Your Word. Christ is all. Christ is all
any one of us needs. Father, how we beg of Thee that
You give that great gift of faith. Cause each one of us here this
morning to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. To
quit our works of religion, to quit our works of morality and
of law, and just rest in Christ. Cause us to walk in the Spirit.
by believing, resting in our Lord Jesus Christ. Fathers, for
his glory, the glory of his precious name, that we pray and give thanks.