Now, Romans 8 is clearly one
of the high points in God's Word. I have looked forward to when
we got to this chapter from the very beginning of Romans. This
chapter is so plain, plain, easy to understand speech that has
been a comfort and encouragement to God's people for centuries.
This chapter begins with There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. And it ends with nothing shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. That's rich. I know I can't do
it justice, but I look forward to the next few weeks where we're
studying it. Now, by way of introduction,
true salvation gives the believer more than deliverance from our
sin debt. Now, we thank God for the Lord
Jesus Christ who paid for the sins of his elect. But God's
salvation doesn't just end there. It's not just a legal payment.
When God saves a sinner, now, you know, if you save yourself,
you know, it might just end there. But when God saves a sinner,
that sinner is given a new nature. He's given a desire to walk with
Christ, to walk in the spirit of God. And we know that walk
won't be perfect now. But when God saves somebody,
they do have a changed walk. When God met Jacob and Jacob
wrestled with him there all night, Jacob got up from that place
and he had a changed walk. He limped the rest of his life
because God touched him. And the person that God saves
is going to have a changed walk. They're going to walk in the
Holy Spirit. They're going to have that walk because of what
the old timers talk about. I love to think about that vital
union. with the Lord Jesus Christ. So
here Romans 8 verse 1, Paul writes, 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 no condemnation left
for any believer in Christ. Now what better news can there
be than that? There's no more condemnation. Now you'll notice
he doesn't say we don't deserve to be condemned. We have done
things that deserve condemnation. We do things right now that deserve
condemnation, and we'll do things in the future that make us condemnable. And he doesn't say that no one
can accuse us of sinful actions, because people can. Satan is
the accuser of the brethren. The world can accuse us. The
world can condemn us. The believer's own heart accuses
you, convicts you of sin. We feel like Job. I repent and
sackcloth and ashes and put my hand over my mouth just to shut
up. Don't say anything else. Make
it worse. And we feel that way because there is plenty of sin
left in us. But Scripture says we are not
condemned because Christ Jesus, our Lord, because there's no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. The key there
is in Christ Jesus. No believer is condemned because
Christ has already been condemned for us as our substitute. All
of God's anger against the sins of his elect has already been
taken out on our substitute, and there's no more condemnation
left because our sins have already been condemned in our substitute. Look over here across the page
here at verse 33. Who shall lay anything, anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemned? It's Christ that died. See, the
reason you can't be condemned is Christ died for you. That's
the only reason there's no condemnation left. Now, every believer has
a very clear understanding. We deserve to be condemned. If
God just left us alone, give us what we deserve. We deserve
to be condemned. We're condemned in Adam's fall,
guilty in Adam's. We're condemned in our own actions,
our own thoughts, our own desires. And we do feel the accusations
of the world. We feel the accusations of Satan,
of our own heart. And they can accuse us of things
that are all true. But the tribunal of God's justice
says, you are not condemned. What does the father say? There
are sins and iniquities. Well, I remember no more. There's
no more condemnation. What does the son say? Look over
in John chapter 8. The Son says to us, every one
of his people, same thing he says to this woman taken in adultery.
You know the story in John 8 verse 10. When Jesus had lifted up
himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman,
where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more." The Son
says, I don't condemn you. Because in a very short time,
I'm going to stand condemned for you. And He says, go and
sin no more. That's that changed walk. We'll
talk more about that in a minute. But that's the changed walk.
The Father doesn't condemn us. The Son doesn't condemn us. And
the Spirit doesn't condemn us. Now the Spirit comes and convicts
us of sin, doesn't He? But then the Spirit points to
Christ. who bore our sin, and the Comforter comforts our hearts
by showing us Christ, saying to us, to our hearts, there is
no more condemnation. Christ died for you. Look to
Him. And there is, therefore, right now, right this very minute,
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. This is
not a future event. You don't have to wait until
sometime in the future to find out you avoid condemnation right
now. The wrath of God right now is
not upon you. Not if you're in Christ Jesus.
We're not condemned from our sins of the past, our sins of
the present right now, and our sins of the future. They've all
been put away in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the believers justify
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're cleansed
from all of our sin, cleansed from all iniquity. Scripture
says we're free from sin. We're free from the law. We've
been washed in the blood, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Now
what's the result of that? It's a changed walk. If you've
been washed in the blood of the Lamb, if Christ has revealed
Himself to you and you've seen Him with eyes of faith and you've
laid hold on Him and He's laid hold on you, there's going to
be a change take place, a changed life. We walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. This is the description of every
believer now. We walk after the Spirit, not
after the flesh anymore. This is the result of salvation. You don't start walking this
way and clean yourself up and start doing better so the Lord,
well, He sees you and He's pleased with you. No. This is the result
of God's work of grace in the heart. So we don't walk after
the way of the flesh anymore, after the way of self and sin
and the way of this world. We walk by faith in Christ. We
walk looking to Him, following His example of love and forgiveness
and meekness. Walk in the Spirit. Walk in His
commandments. Not because we have to. Because
we love to. This is the way we'll go. Now, 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, I did some reading on this
law of the Spirit of life in Christ. Yield says this could
be the covenant of grace. That covenant of grace between
the Father and the Son is made way back there in eternity. That
covenant is a law. It demands that all those elect
that were placed in Christ Jesus have life. They become free from
sin and death because of that covenant of grace. But that can
also be the gospel. It can refer to the gospel, which
declares to us the covenant of grace, doesn't it? The gospel
tells us where life is to be found, where freedom from the
law is to be found, where freedom from sin is to be found. It's
in Christ. The gospel tells believers we're
free from the demands of the law because Christ was obedient
to the law for us. He kept the law. The gospel tells
believers we're free from the sting of death, we're free from
the power of death because Christ, our substitute, died for us when
our sin was laid on him. And since he died, We must have
life. Everyone that Christ died for
must have life, must be free from the law, free from sin,
free from death. Now, verse three, 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. Now, the law cannot save anybody. You can hang the Ten Commandments
up on a wall, memorize them all you want, try to live by them
all you want. They'll never save you. All that mosaic law, all
that ceremonial law that takes up pages and pages and pages
and pages of Scripture can't save you. It'll never be able
to save any human being through our obedience to it. And it's
not because there's anything wrong with the law. There is
absolutely no defect in the law whatsoever. It's perfect. Matter
of fact, if you could keep the law perfectly, God would justify
it. God would accept you if you could
keep the law perfectly. There's nothing wrong with it.
The reason the law can't save anybody is the defects in us.
And it's not just one defect. We're all defective, completely
defective, completely, totally depraved and sinful. The law
can't save us because we're incapable of keeping the law. The law is
only weak and powerless to save because of the weakness of our
flesh. The weakness of our nature makes it impossible for us to
keep the law. We don't even have any desire
to keep it. Of course it can't save you. But there is no weakness
to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why God sent him. There's no weakness to be found
in him. He does justify his people. Now this is pictured in the Old
Testament in Moses and Joshua. Moses represents the law. God
sent Moses, he led the people out of Egypt. Led them to the
brink of the promised land and they wouldn't go in. Moses could
not lead the children of Israel into the promised land because
he represents the law. The law can never give rest. The law can never lead us to
rest and happiness and holiness. But then Moses died. And Joshua
assumed leadership. Joshua is a picture of Christ.
The name Joshua is the Old Testament name for Jesus. And Joshua led
the people into the promised land. The law can't give justification. The law can't give rest. But
Christ gives both. That's what He gives. Now, I
said earlier, if you could keep the law perfectly, you would
be justified. Well, Christ did exactly that. He did keep the law perfectly.
And everyone he represented is justified. The perfect obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ is imputed to us. It's charged to us. It's
reckoned to the believer. And the way God sees it, the
believer is just as justified as if you had personally kept
that law. And you did. In the Beloved. In Christ. His obedience is imputed
to you. Paul says God sent His Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh. God's Son was made to be what
we are, so He could be our substitute. He came with a human body and
a human soul, yet without sin. He had to be the sinless sacrifice. The only sacrifice that can take
away sin is a sinless one. So He came without sin. Yet He
was a real man in a real body and a real soul. He is a real
man right this very moment. There's a man in glory seated
at the Father's right hand. He's a real man. And when He
came to this earth, that body that He came in was punished
for sin. That body died under the wrath
of God for the sin charged to Him. That soul He had was poured
out as an offering for sin. The word here, the phrase here,
for sin, that He came in the likeness of flesh and for sin,
means for a sacrifice for sin. He came for an offering for sin. He came to earth so He could
be the sacrifice for sin, for the sins of His elect. He came
to earth in a human body so that human body that was without sin
could be made sin. So He could bear the sin of His
people and put it away through the sacrifice of Himself. And
all of God's sin was laid on Him, was charged to Him in that
body and He was punished in that body. He was condemned and killed
in that body. That's why there's no more condemnation
to them who are in Him. Because He already bore that
away in His body on the tree. And now, even the most ungodly,
the most wretched, the biggest rebel, the chief of sinners,
is free from condemnation in Christ, because Christ kept the
law for us as our representative, and he suffered as our substitute
under our sin. Look over at 1 Peter chapter
2. 1 Peter 2, let's start in verse
22, talking about Christ. He suffered for us, leaving us
an example that we should follow. Who did no sin. He came without
sin. Neither was any guile found in
his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered,
he threatened not. But committed himself to him
that judges righteously. Who his own self bear our sins
In His body, in that perfect body, He bare our sins on the
tree. That we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness. By whose stripes you're healed.
See this all the way through Scripture. When Christ died for
you, He made you dead to sin, there's a changed walk. By whose
stripes you're healed, you should not live unto unrighteousness
any longer. Now, verse 4, back in our text,
Romans 8. Christ came as a sacrifice for sin, and He condemned sin
in the flesh, so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
The reason Christ came to earth as a man to be our sacrifice,
the sacrifice for our sin, is so that the righteousness of
the law might be fulfilled in His people. Now Paul says the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, He means
we're made holy. We're made righteous. We're sanctified
in Christ. What he's talking about here
is imputed righteousness. And the only way righteousness
can be fulfilled in us is if God puts it there. It's got to
be imputed to us. Because we can't do it. God's
got to put it there. It's fulfilled in us. Not by
us, but in us. Because of the imputed righteousness
of Christ. Because He's imparted His nature
to us. And because of that, There's
a changed walk. Now, we're not going to cover
all the next 10 verses, but the next 10 verses are a description.
They explain to us what it means to not walk in the flesh, but
to walk in the Spirit. Verse 5, For they that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are
after the Spirit do things of the Spirit. Now, Paul uses the
word do mind. He means to be concerned with.
That you're controlled by it. That your mind is controlled
by and taken up with it. And he uses the word after. He
means that's where your affection lies. What you love are the things
that you go after. For they that are in the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. They're concerned with the things
of the flesh. They're controlled by the things
of the flesh. And they love. Their affection
lies in those sinful desires of the flesh. But those who are
in the Spirit, they do mind the things of the Spirit. They're
concerned with the things of the Spirit. They're controlled
by the things of the Spirit. And they have a new love. They
have holy love. They love the holy desires of
the Spirit. Now those who are in the flesh,
they just have the one nature. So all they can be taken up with
is the things of this world. And they'll go great distances
to provide for that flesh. They'll go a long way to make
allowances for the sinful desires of the flesh. They never think
on Christ. They don't have an interest in
the Scripture and finding out what the Scripture says. There's
no interest there. They don't have any interest
in knowing the Lord. They have no desire to have their
sin forgiven. All they are is flesh. But the
believer is much different. The believer's love, affection,
is set on things above. Not on things of this earth.
Their thoughts are occupied with Christ. Their mind is set on
Him. Their interest is learning more of Him. Their desire is
to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
believer hates sin. Now, they still sin. They still
have it in them, but they're not going to make allowances
for it. They hate it. I tell you what they will make
allowances for is worship. They'll make provision for worship. They'll make provision so that
they can avail themselves to the means to learn more of the
Savior. They'll make provision so that they can be in a place
where they can learn more of the Word. This is what's important
to them. Now, that's not to say that the believer is never occupied
with the things of this life, because you must be. But here's
the key. The believer has these things
in perspective. Now, you go out to your job every
day. Well, you better think about
it. You know, and you better pay attention to what it is that
you're doing. You know, you're working around, you know, equipment
and machinery and things. If you're not paying attention
to what you're doing, you cut your hand off. You've got to pay attention to
what you're doing. Do a good job. Scripture tells you. When you're
on the job, do a good job. Give them an honest day's work.
You've got to go perform your function at that job so you have
the things to provide for your family. It's important. Those
children of yours, they've got a roof over their head. They've
got clothes to wear. They've got to be educated. They've
got to have the things. They've got to have food to eat.
You've got to pay attention to these things. Brent Kendon doesn't
eat much right now, but he's going to. I'm telling you what,
when that boy's a teenager, he's going to eat. Well, you've got
to have money to buy him food. When I was in high school, I
had a very close friend. Savannah's only met him once,
but he's like some mythical figure to her. John Rainey, my very
best friend, he'd spend, I bet, six days a week at our house.
Well, we went off to college, John and I did. Mom couldn't
believe the difference in her grocery budget. She said, you
boys are going through more than a gallon of milk a day. Somebody's
got to have the money to buy those things. These kids got
to eat. I mean, you feed them this morning, but they're going
to have to eat again this afternoon. But that's not all the believer
thinks about. So you have those things in perspective,
but that's not all you think about and all that you care about.
Because while you've got to provide Kendon the things he needs to
have to eat, you've got to provide spiritual leadership, too. See,
that's what the believer understands. The family schedule is centered
around worship. Those children have to be taught
the gospel and not just here at home, And not just by word,
but by example. By the way they watch you as
they grow up. That's what you've got to do.
And you do have to go out and do a good job. And you know,
you have the things that you can provide for your family.
But you don't waste all that on yourself. You want to use
those things to support your gospel too. See, it's not that
the believer never thinks about the things of this world. It's
just that he keeps them in perspective. There's a real big difference.
between being in the flesh and being after the flesh. You're
forced to live in this flesh, but God's grace delivers you
from being after it. That's the difference. Now, verse
6. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it's not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. To be carnally minded
is to think like the carnal mind thinks. It's to do the things
that come naturally and logically to the carnal mind. And those
ways will always bring death. Always. Both to body and soul. And that's because the carnal
mind hates God. Now, I know that people in the
world say, oh, I don't hate God. Well, yes, you do too. I told someone this week, when
you think you see something that's contrary to God's Word, you're
looking at it wrong now. God's Word says our carnal mind
hates God. It's enmity against Him. It hates
God's way. That mind will not submit to
the righteousness of Christ. That carnal mind will rebel at
God's way at every opportunity, every turn. It cannot be and
it will never be subject to God's law. That's why it leads to death.
The human mind, the natural human mind is as opposed to God as
darkness is to light. Darkness and light can never
dwell together. It's a physical impossibility.
Well, the carnal mind, it's impossible for that carnal mind to dwell
with God. It's enmity against God. That's
the carnal mind. Now I ask you, Where is man's
free will? You hear all this about man's
free will. Well, here's the carnal mind that you're born with. Where
is man's free will? That carnal mind is free. It's
free to hate. It's free to hate God's way.
It's free to hate God's law. It's free to love sin. And that
way will always bring death and condemnation. That's why God
gives His people a new heart and a new mind. See, you can't
reform that old mind. It's dead. It's going to stay
that way. God gives a new mind. Henry had
this in his outline, a quote from Augustine. This is excellent.
Augustine said this, How can snow be made warm? Only by making
it cease to be snow. The natural mind cannot be mended
or modified, only destroyed. How do you make snow warm? By
making it cease to be snow. And we've got to be given a new
mind. That believer is spiritually minded. You've been given, by
God's grace, the mind of Christ. And you'll do the things that
come naturally to that new spiritual mind. You'll beg for mercy. You'll
look to Christ. You'll rest in Christ for your
all in all. You don't just submit to the
righteousness of Christ because you're forced to the knee. You
lovingly submit to Him. Lovingly submit to the righteousness
of Christ. His righteousness is my only
plea. And that way leads to life. What Peter calls living stones
gives life. To be spiritually minded brings
life and peace. Peace with God, peace of conscience,
and it makes you a peaceable person. Not always looking for
a fight and to rebel, but to love peace. That's to be spiritually
minded. Now verse 8, So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. Outside of Christ, it is
impossible to please God. Even men's religious activity
doesn't please God. Not outside of Christ. All it
does is add to their condemnation. Without faith, without faith
in Christ, it's impossible to please God. But the father is
well pleased with his son. And He's well-pleased with everyone
in Him. That's why there's no condemnation of them who are
in Christ Jesus. He's well-pleased to those in
Him. The songwriter said, when He
sees me, He sees the blood of the Lamb. He sees me as worthy
and not as I am. Because He sees me in Christ.
Look back at Proverbs 15. I read this this week. It's very interesting. Proverbs
15. Verse 8, the sacrifice of the wicked,
the religious activity of the wicked, is an abomination to
the Lord. But the prayer of the upright
is his delight. Now, prayer can be a tough thing. Public prayer is a very, very
difficult thing. And I've never been satisfied
when I say, Amen. I've never. ever satisfied with
any prayer that I have ever prayed. Publicly or privately, it's always
too full of self, too full of wanting things for me and my
flesh, and you think, well, that's a very poor prayer. I'm ashamed
of that. That's just a very poor prayer. But God's Word says,
in Christ, that was a delight to the Father. Do things your
children tell you, little ones now, and they're just learning
to talk and they don't have very good vocabulary, do things they
tell you, does it have to be said just perfect to be your
delight? It doesn't. They use words wrong and they
stumble and they lisp and they do things we think is cute and
they're our delight. In Christ, the Father is delighted
with the prayers of His people. That helped me. I don't know
if it will you, but that helped me. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. But you are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. You are not in the flesh, Paul
says. That does not mean you are not human. You do not have
human emotions and desires and the sin that is in this flesh,
because we do. But it means you have a new nature. Now you have
a new spiritual, holy nature. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. One of the old translations says,
seeing that the Spirit of God dwells in you. There's no question
that the Spirit of God dwells in His people. Now you still
have that sinful nature, of course, the one that you're born with,
but it's not in control anymore. To be spiritually minded is to
be ruled and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God. And if you
deny that that Spirit is in you, that that new nature is in you,
then you do not belong to Christ. And you say, Frank, that's pretty
hard. You're being awful narrow there. Well, now, wait a minute.
What's God's Word say? If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. If the Spirit of Christ
doesn't dwell in you, the reason for that is simply this, you
don't belong to Christ. Simple as that. That's what God's
Word says. Every believer has God the Holy
Spirit dwelling in you. And every unbeliever does not
have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. So, verse 10, we'll quit. And if Christ be in you, the
body's dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness. See, here's the believer, like
we saw last week, has two natures. There's two men living in you.
One's flesh. And he will ultimately die because
of sin. That's why we die, because of
sin. That's why we start falling apart, because of sin. But that
other man, that other nature, he exists because the Spirit
of Christ dwells in you. And that man will never die.
He has eternal life right now, and one day, You'll enjoy that
life eternally with Christ because of righteousness. Because of
the imputed righteousness of Christ, you've been made righteous
in Christ. We'll enjoy that eternal life
with Him because Christ has made us meet, made us fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. Alright. May the Lord
bless you.