Romans chapter eight, and we'll
read from verse one. There is therefore now 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,
in 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. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. 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 is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. But ye 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.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin,
but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the
flesh. For if ye live after the flesh,
ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the suffering
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. Amen. May God bless to
us this reading from his word. We're coming to a new section
in our study in the book of Romans. We're moving, as it were, from
one part of the book into another, but there is a continuity here
that we will discover. We've seen, perhaps if you've
been able to keep abreast of what we've been thinking about
in these past few weeks, and I guess months now, that the
Apostle has in these seven carefully argued chapters, beautifully
framed for us, a picture of the heavenly doctrine of justification
by grace. And he has described the all
wise means by which the blessings of God's purpose, the blessings
of God's goodness and grace flow to the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So we have God presented to us
in his glory and in his majesty, but a willingness on the part
of God to bless a people. And the Apostle Paul has shown
us how that blessing comes to us at God's initiative. He has chosen a people. He has
determined to bless that people. And he has sent that people a
revelation of his goodness. both in the Old Testament prophets,
in the revelations of the law, in the way in which the Lord
Jesus Christ was foretold, in the coming of the Saviour, and
in the gospel message which the apostles have taught. In so many
ways, the purposes of God have been revealed to his church. He has shown us in these seven
chapters the divine origin of mercy, because we never could
deal with God as co-equals. We never could earn from him
anything that was good for our hearts and our souls. Every dealing
that God has with us has to be founded upon mercy. And he has shown us the divine
origin of that mercy, the fact that it flows from the love of
God towards us. That's where we find grounds
for mercy. That's where we find hope for
our salvation, in the love of God towards us. He has shown
us the efficient cause of our redemption. He has presented
to us the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and shown us that in the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a way of salvation for
sinners. And he has spoken in these chapters
of the Holy Enabler. the one by whom the blessings
of grace and salvation and mercy are applied to sinners like you
and like me. So in Romans 5, verse 5, as just
one verse that we can take as an example, there the apostle
tells us that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us. Now this great plan of salvation
that the Apostle has spoken of here in this book to the Romans,
this divine covenant of peace, this contract that was established
in the persons of the Godhead because of that divine love and
that desire to do good to a people of his love, this covenant purpose,
this covenant plan, we call Sovereign Grace. That's a title that we
have placed upon this gospel message. And I believe that our
little congregation here in Great Falls could not better self-identify
than have the name Sovereign Grace Church Great Falls. It speaks of this great message. It speaks of the central theme
of the Apostle here in the Book of Romans. And as the Apostle
was unburdening his heart to those to whom he was writing,
those that he loved and cared for, those in that city that
he knew had a passion for the things of Christ, had a faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. As he was setting out this doctrinal
structure, this framework by which the way of grace is revealed,
he has shown us this sovereign grace of God. And now In chapter
eight, he is going to lead us on that we might consider and
meditate upon the blessings that this sovereign grace brings to
us individually. He is talking about what may
be experienced. He is bringing to our attention
the privileges to be enjoyed. These are things that we can
enter into. These are truths that will have
an impact and a lasting effect upon our lives when we lay hold
upon them, when they enter into our souls, when we realise the
message that is being given to us here. And I think that the
way in which we understand these truths we should see that Paul
has purposefully structured his message to us in order to teach
us by way of doctrine and by personal experience the things
that we may learn of and from the Lord God and the person of
Jesus Christ. And let me pause on this point
for a moment, because I think that the apostle realises here
that there is great value in this approach that he has taken. You see, the Bible is not a catalogue
of impersonal statements. Unfortunately, men, and usually
for personal reasons and for intellectual pride, have taken
this book, this Bible, and chopped it up into a thousand different
little pieces and then reassembled it again in structures and formularies
and ways of, as they would say, systematizing. these truths and
they make an intellectual exercise out of the holy scriptures of
God. What Paul is teaching us here
is that there is a personal dimension to be understood in every doctrine
that he teaches And we've not to be in any way cowered by those
who would come to us with their intellectual abilities and their
scholarly mortarboards and tell us that in some way we are not
equipped to understand these books. or these messages or these
doctrines because they are profound and they are difficult and they're
sophisticated and you need to have a university degree and
you need to have a doctorate in theology in order to understand
these things. That's what the world, the religious
world at least, would try to tell us. But the point I'm making
here is this, that the Apostle Paul While he has brought to
us a number of statements of doctrine, he has also shown us
how they have personally affected him. And from that personal affectation,
that personal engagement with which he has with them, how we
too might engage with these gospel truths. Yes, there is theology. There is the study of God, which
is what theology means. And yes, there is doctrine, the
teaching of the faith. But this is not some old musty
textbook. This is full of practical application,
showing us the things that we hold, the things that we believe,
the things that we trust and depend upon, and how those things
have a practical effect in the lives that we live. This book
is something to say to you when you're on the base. It has something
to say to you when you're speaking to your family. It has something
to say to me when I'm engaging with my friends. This is a book
which is showing us how we live in this world in the light of
God and his revelation to us of himself. and he has equipped
us with these truths that we might live to his glory with
a better understanding and with comfort and with encouragement
and with insight and with faith to trust upon him day by day. So we will not be intimidated
by these truths. These truths, while they are
profound and while they are infinite as they deal with a profound
and infinite God, a glorious God, a majestic God, yet they
have a personal application. This book will never grow old.
This book will never be exhausted. It will always have something
new to say to us and it will always have something to help
us through every day of our life. There's comforting truths here.
There's spirit-refreshing wisdom here. There's food for our souls
here in these truths because the Bible is about life. It's
the living Word of God and it speaks to the living. It speaks
to those who are quickened, who are alive in their souls. And so it's as if deep calls
to deep. It's as if there is a resonating
of the message of the scripture as it communicates its force,
its power, its encouragement, its comfort to us and enters
into our hearts and enters into our minds. It's why the scriptures
speak of that wayfaring man. I love that phrase, a wayfaring
man. In England, we call them tramps
of the road. I guess you have other words
for them over here, but these would be the guys that would
ride the boxcars, maybe, and be out on the roads and on the
trails Maybe sleeping under bushes in the summer or finding a place
down at the rescue mission in the wintertime. A wayfaring man. And the Bible says that a wayfaring
man, though a fool, knows more about this book. than the most
erudite and educated theologian or philosopher ever can. Why is that? Because it is a
message of faith. Because it is a message that
speaks to those who have faith to see and hear and understand. Romans chapter 1 verse 17, the
apostle has alluded to this when he says, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed, speaking about the gospel, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. If you speak to somebody
about the righteousness of God, I mean, would anybody at all
even have the first clue what you were talking about? And then
if you take that to some clergyman or some university professor
or some theologian and say, let's think about the righteousness
of faith. Oh, they might start with a whole load of theological
jargon. They might talk about the nature
of God. They might talk about revelation.
They might talk about perfection and holiness and all of these
things. but someone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as their
saviour, they know about the righteousness of God. They know
about it, not because they've learned about it in some textbook
or some theology book, but because this word speaks to their hearts. And then again, in this chapter
that we have, that we read the verse a few moments ago, chapter
8, verse 16, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God. And so there's something here
which is personal for us. I had a wee look at this, I was
thinking about this fact, the way in which the Apostle Paul
uses these personal approaches to make it intimate and show
us that it has a liveliness for us today. And do you know that
in chapter 7, the Apostle Paul used the personal word, I, 33
times in these 25 verses? And he used me another nine times. It's a personal testimony. He's
speaking about himself. He's sharing, he's opening up
to speak about his experience in his own heart, in his own
mind, the challenges that he faces, the troubles that he has,
the anxieties that are upon him, the way in which his daily life
seems to bear down upon him. And he wonders, How can I make
sense of this? How am I going to get through
this? How am I going to deal with the people around about
me? Do you ever feel like that? Paul did. Paul did. And yet he's showing us that
in these doctrines, this theology, if you like, this message of
the gospel that he is bringing, he finds answers for his everyday
life in these portions of Scripture. He says in verse two here in
chapter eight, he says, for the law of the spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. It's made me free. This is personal
to him and it's personal to you too if you trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is yours. This is personal. This is Pauline, but it is also
Petrine. I was going to say Christrine,
but that sounds too much like Christine, so I better not say
that. But it's for us all. It's for us. Is Paul free from
the law of sin and death? He says he is. Why? Is it because he's especially
righteous? Is it because he's extra good? Is it because he knows more than
you and me? No, no, no. Not any of those
things. What he is showing us here is
that that which he possesses, that which he has, Certainly,
he has had a special revelation. He is an apostle. But that is
the whole point, that he, as an apostle, has had these truths
committed to him that he might in turn teach them to others
and show which we have as our common good, our common wealth
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you're no different to
me, and I'm no different to you. And some of us might be smarter
than others and some of us might be more accomplished and more
intelligent or better looking or more popular or whatever it
might be. But we're just the same at heart.
Our needs before God are exactly the same. They were for Paul,
they were for me, they are for you. Paul says in verse 17 of
chapter eight, This is our inheritance. This is our portion. This is
our inheritance, the inheritance of grace to those who are God's
children, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. This is yours
and mine. These are the greatest privileges
on this earth. These gospel truths, this message,
of freedom from sin, freedom from the condemning law, freedom
from the conscious, conscience debilitating power of sin in
an individual's life. These words of comfort These
encouragements of soul and spirit, these boosts to get us through
our day as we reflect upon what Jesus Christ has done for us,
they're our possession. They're yours and they're mine
and they're the richest blessings upon earth. So let us have a
little bit of a look to see in these opening verses of chapter
8 what the Apostle Paul has to say to us about our riches in
Christ. And the first one is that there
is no condemnation to us. What an amazing statement that
is. No wonder, no wonder the Lord's
people love to go to Romans chapter eight. And we do, don't we? We go to Romans chapter eight
and sometimes we miss out the first seven chapters and we go
straight to Romans chapter eight. And it couldn't start any better.
I understand that. I'm not giving you into trouble
for missing out the first seven chapters. I understand why we
do this. He is telling us that in the
eternal court of God, at the judgment seat of the most high
and holy God, where the books are opened, where everything
is known, where God sees with his omniscience every single
thing that ever has happened in this world, in your life and
in mine, in the eternal mind of God, under that holy God,
all-seeing, all-knowing eye. There is no condemnation against
your soul. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
something to hear? Isn't that something to know?
Isn't that something to have written down in the word of God
in a personal witness, in a personal testimony? No condemnation. What did we read about the law
in the previous chapter? We read that the law was holy,
just, and a good commandment. And Paul tells us that under
that law, under that holy, just law, there is no condemnation. It's found against the people
of God and the people who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why
is that? because we are in Christ, because
we are seen by God in Him. We are placed in Christ by the
divine fear, by the divine will. God has placed us in His Son. God has gathered us up as the
choice people of His love, and placed us, inserted us, encompassed
us in the person of Jesus Christ so that His accomplishments become
our accomplishments. So that the sin which was ours,
the unworthiness, that breach of His law which we had committed,
when laid upon Him would be dealt with by Him. so that in all justice,
holiness and truth God could say, there is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. A substitute has been found. He has taken our sin and He has
called it His own. Not just the guilt of the sin,
not just the culpability, not just the price that had to be
paid, but the sin itself has been taken. If God had simply
taken the judgment for our sin and placed it upon Christ and
judged Him, it would still have left us as sinners and still
culpable. There might not have been any
longer a judgment to be born, but the sin would still have
been there. It's like the difference between someone being found not
guilty of a crime or having their guilt commuted, having a presidential
pardon given to them. This is not just a presidential
pardon. This is not just God pardoning
us for the things that we have done. This is saying that God
no longer sees any sin in us at all because that sin has been
taken away and there is no condemnation to those who are in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is saying that the law The
law which is holy, just and good, the commandment has been satisfied. The demands of the law have been
settled. All its claims have been dismissed. And there is this position now
of a people who are no longer under condemnation. Now that doesn't mean that there
is nothing condemnable in our flesh. Because we know that's
the whole point about what Paul has been saying in Romans chapter
seven. There is a contemptibility about
us. There is a sin which continues
in our flesh. And like Paul, we feel the weight
of that sin. We feel the weakness of our flesh. But now, now we are taught that
God has placed that sin upon the shoulders of another. And
while we still commit sin, that sin is no longer laid to our
charge. It is already carried by the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. The sins of yesterday have been
placed on the Saviour, and I'm not I'm not under any condemnation
for those sins. The sins of today have been laid
upon the Saviour and I am not in any way condemnable for those
sins. The sins that I will commit tomorrow
and for the rest of my life have already been laid upon the Saviour,
and I am not condemnable for them in any way. There is no
condemnation flows to me as a child of God, because I am in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I just want to point out as we
pass through this opening verse, that little word, now, I'm not
going to say too much about this except that you might find someday
that someone will challenge you upon your understanding of the
gospel and particularly of the eternal nature of that gospel
because of that little word there, now. You see, in a very real
way, there never was any condemnation against us. because we were always
seen by God in the person of Jesus Christ. That is why some
of us talk about our justification from eternity. People don't like
that. But I believe that there is a
legitimate presentation of this great work of justification,
which can be seen in its eternal dimension. We always were in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We always were in the eternal
covenant, covered by his sacrifice, covered by his righteousness,
preserved, protected. He undertook to deliver us and
to save us. And that is why scripture can
speak of the Lord Jesus Christ as being that lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world. There was a very real
sense in which we are eternally justified in the view of God,
because the Lord Jesus Christ has always been, as the unchangeable
Son of God, our representative, our advocate, our substitute,
and our deliverer. And while it came from eternity
into time, and the Lord Jesus Christ entered into time in order
to fulfil the obligations of that covenant and then take us
from time into eternity there to ever dwell with him, there
is a very real sense in which our standing has always been
an eternal standing. Now there are those who would
contend against that doctrine. And they would use this opening
verse of Romans 8 and say, well now what he's saying is that,
or what he's saying is that therefore now there is no condemnation. There used to be, but not anymore. And they would argue against
our justification from eternity based on that little word now.
But I think it is quite easy to interpret this word now in
the sense of our faith and our understanding of what God has
done for us. We knew Did we not? That we were a people under judgment. We knew that we were a people
who were worthy of death. We knew that we had this sin
problem in our lives and we felt the weight of conviction and
we felt the judgment of God. And that's the nature of the
way of salvation because of the flesh in which dwells no good
thing. but by faith we see things differently. And that's the now as far as
this verse is concerned. Now that we have come to faith,
we understand that there is no condemnation for us because we
see the Lord Jesus Christ no longer as a judge, no longer
as someone who is fearsome, but as that one who loves us and
gave himself for us. And also in this verse, there
is a reference here. to walking in the Spirit. It says, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Let me make a point
just about that sentence as well. That when he's talking here about
walking after the Spirit, that is a description, not a condition. You understand the difference
there? We're not saying that there is no condemnation if you
walk after the Spirit. It's a description. It is saying
that there is no condemnation now to those who are walking
after the Spirit. We walk after the Spirit because
we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. and that no condemnation is because
we are in Christ. Some would tell us, oh yes, if
you walk after the Spirit, then there'll be no condemnation to
you. That puts it all back on the individual, that puts it
all back on the shoulders of the man that says, you walk after
the Spirit, you live a holy life, you don't do any sin, there won't
be any condemnation. Is that particularly miraculous
or wonderful? That's just Justice, that's just
fairness. But what man could ever live
to that standard? What man could ever live like
that? Now, what is being told to us here is that because we
are in Christ, we walk after the Spirit. It is a consequence
of being placed in the Lord Jesus Christ, having the love of God
upon us, the redemption of Christ for us, and the person of the
Holy Spirit indwelling us. Look at verse two. He goes on
to say, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. We are free from
the law of sin and death. That is the law of condemnation. That is the law that is broken. That is God's holy law. The Law
of Moses, you can call it the moral law if you like, you can
call it the Ten Commandments if you like. It's the standard
of God's holiness, it's the standard of God's perfection, revealed
to us in the laws of Scripture, the highest, most perfect manifestation
of the holiness of God revealed to man, and we have transgressed
that law. We have broken that law. But
we are now in Christ free from any condemnation because we are
free from the condemnation of the law of sin and death. We remember, as we were going
through chapter seven, the opening verses of that passage where
it spoke about the woman who had been married to a husband
And once the husband was dead, if she then married another,
she was not guilty of adultery. But while he still lived, she
was still under the law to him. Well, this is the point that
is being made here. We are free from the law of sin
and death because of the death of our Saviour. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ died for us, He has set us free from this law
of sin and death. That moral law, those Ten Commandments,
they don't have any condemning impact upon us. And that's what
we were speaking about last week when the Apostle says, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
We are subject all our lives to the law of God being applied
against us. But what we have to say to the
devil as he brings against us these railing accusations is
the Lord Jesus Christ has carried that for me. The Lord Jesus Christ
has taken that away. The Lord Jesus Christ has borne
my iniquity. The Lord Jesus Christ took my
sin in his own body on the tree and there is no condemnation
against me. That's yours, that's mine, that's
Paul's, that's the church's right and privilege to lay hold upon
these promises because we are justified before God through
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. The Lord Jesus Christ
was made under the law. He took our sins in his own body. He was made sin for us, Paul
tells the Corinthians. He bore the curse of the law
against us. And now the law is satisfied. Now the law has been nullified. It has been taken away for all
the members of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it doesn't have anything
to say against us by way of condemnation. The third thing I wanted to point
out was this. We are secure in the Lord Jesus
Christ and our security is at the instigation of God. Here again we see this sovereign
grace exemplified. We see the way in which God's
sovereignty and his goodness and his grace towards sinners
like us has been manifested in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the
sovereign purpose of God. to bestow His grace and mercy
upon a people is evidenced in these words. For what the law,
verse three, could not do in 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. The law was weak to
do this, not for any inadequacy of the law, the law was Perfect. The law was holy, just and good.
It served the purpose to which it was sent. But our flesh was
not able to deal with the law because of sin. The moral law
could never give life. It could never make righteous.
It can only ever point out where we are unrighteous. It could
never justify us. It could never liberate us. Not
because it was bad or inadequate, but because of our weak flesh. It could never make us alive.
It could never quicken us. So what it couldn't do, because
of the weakness of our flesh, because of the sin that was in
our life, because of the fall of Adam, because of the sin principle
and the sin practice, God dealt with that problem. And here we
see the sovereign grace of God. If it would be done at all, the
salvation of a people, it had to be done by God. It couldn't
be done by us, God had to do it Himself. So what did He do? He came. God came into this world. God came, the Son came, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the God-Man. He was sent of the Father. God
sending, verse three again, in the middle of the verse, God
sending his own son in the likeness of human flesh. And when we think
about the personal dimension of this, here we realise that
God sent his son for me. God sent the Lord Jesus Christ
from heaven, the eternal God, the eternal Son, into this world
for me, because he knew that I had a need, because he knew
that I couldn't help myself. The God-Man came willingly, voluntarily. Christ entered into this world.
He entered into our flesh. He became a man like us. The eternal covenant of God was
revealed to the world. The purpose of God's grace was
revealed to the world in the person of Jesus Christ. Our sin
was condemned in the flesh and in the body of our substitute. He became the representative
of his people here on the cross and he carried our sin away. and therefore there is no outstanding
condemnation to those whom he represented. He goes on to say
in verse 4 that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Here we have this reference again
of walking after the flesh, or not after the flesh, but after
the spirit. This is descriptive of the life
that we now live in the Lord Jesus Christ. But here we see
that this righteousness is fulfilled in us. That righteousness which
the law requires, it is found in the believer. It is a righteousness
which is received not by merit, not by earning, but as a gift
from God. It is God's righteousness freely
given to us because he delights to give us good gifts. So he
gives us his righteousness. And there is no injustice in
doing so because all our guilt has been taken away. All our
sin has been removed. There is no condemnation now
upon us. And God blesses us with a righteousness,
a righteousness that is imputed, a righteousness that is imparted,
a righteousness that is granted and declared to be our very own. The law comes along and it looks
for that righteousness. And as a man is found in the
Lord Jesus Christ, So the law finds that righteousness, that
righteousness which was Christ's. Christ who was perfect in all
his ways. Christ who fulfilled every demand
of the law. Every satisfaction was made by
him. Deed, word, thought, moral, spiritual. The Lord Jesus Christ was perfect
in all his ways. And as we are in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the law finds no allegations to lay against us. Christ was
that lamb who was examined and found worthy and acceptable without
spot and without blemish. And Christ is our representative
before the Holy God. Notice that that righteousness
is not fulfilled by us. We could not. Nor is it simply
for us, but it is in us. This righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
earn our righteousness by his obedience. Rather, the Lord Jesus
Christ himself is given to us. And that is the meaning of Jeremiah's
references where he speaks about the Lord, our righteousness. We are righteous because we have
Christ. We are righteous because the
Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness. The righteousness of God is the
son granted to, given to, bestowed upon his people. And so this
is the righteousness in us. It is in us because Christ dwells
in us. He is given to us, He indwells
us, He lives in us and He is our righteousness. He has become
to the church, He has become to each individual member of
that church, the Lord. our righteousness. And that is
the true meaning of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ
because it is given to us, it is bestowed upon us and because
Christ dwells in his people. So what is it to walk after the
Spirit? So is the Lord Jesus Christ dwells
in us, as our spirits have been quickened, as our lives have
been embedded in him, as we see by faith all the great satisfaction
that he has accomplished and accomplishments that he has bestowed
upon us. The Holy Spirit is given to us
to help us in our daily lives. He abides in us. We are alive
in Him and we have a relationship with Him, a relationship of faith,
a relationship of liveliness and trust and enduring comfort. The believer's life is hid in
Christ. The believer's walk is influenced
by Christ. The way in which we talk, the
way in which we act, the way in which we go about our business,
they all reflect the fact that the Lord, our righteousness,
indwells us and God, the Holy Spirit, directs our ways and
our paths. Are we perfect? No, because this
flesh is always going to be our Achilles heel. It is always going
to be warring against us. Nevertheless, sin shall not have
dominion over you. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 24
says this, And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in
him and he in him. You see what that says there?
He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. That's exactly what Paul has
been talking about here. The fact that we are in Christ,
we dwell in Christ, and Christ dwells in us. Is that a symbiotic
relationship? Is that what you call that? Where
these two things are so closely bound together, so supportive
and assistive of each other that they become one? Well, that's
the relationship that we have with Christ. He lives in us and
we live in him. And thereby we keep the commandments
of God. Hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the spirit which he has given us. By the spirit we walk, not sinless,
but without condemnation. By this new life we live. Still in the flesh, but Christ
lives in us. As His body, we serve Him and
obey Him and honour Him and return thanks to Him. He is our head. We are His body. We are the members of His body. and as he is perfect, so we are
perfect too. Here is the emphasis. We walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. That is the reality. Sometimes it doesn't feel like
that. But are you going to trust your own feelings or trust the
testimony of God's word? I fall a thousand times and Christ
lifts me up a thousand times. I am weak, but he is my strength. I have so little faith, but he
knows the weakness of my faith. He has given me all the faith
that I have. and it is sufficient faith to
trust in Him for all that I need day by day. Romans 12 verse 3
says, For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every
man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly
than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God
hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
his disciples, O ye of little faith, do you wish you had more
faith? It's a prayer, isn't it? Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. It's a prayer that is cried from
the depths of our heart and our being when we see how frail and
fickle we are against the challenges of this life. But know this, that the amount
of faith that you have, small as it might be, mustard seed
like as it might be, is exactly the quantity and proportion and
measure that the Lord has chosen to give you. That's what he's
given you. And if you feel a desire for
more faith, then He has given you that desire also. And we
take that desire to Him and we ask Him for more faith. And we
ask Him for sufficient faith to deal with the challenges of
the day that He sends to us. I say again, who are you going
to believe? Your own deceptive heart which
says, this is too much for me, I can't go on. Your variable
emotions which says, I've had such a tough day, I can't stand
it anymore. The dullness of your soul which
says, can this really be true? Is this really what it is to
have the Christian life? Should I feel like this if I'm
a believer? The depressive attitude which
comes on us like the black dogs that bite at our feet. or are we going to trust Almighty
God? What is it to be? Who are you going to trust? Your
feelings, your emotions, your dullness of spirit, or God's
testimony concerning what he has done for you in the Lord
Jesus Christ? I know which one I would rather
trust. I know which one I would rather look to and draw my help
and my succor and my assistance from. The father with his love for
his people. The son who came and shed his
own blood. and bore our sins in his body
in the tree. The Holy Spirit sent to us from
the Father and the Son to comfort our hearts and our souls. And
all the promises and declarations of Scripture that are sent by
the apostles and the prophets in order to teach us the way
of salvation. Which one are you going to trust?
Which one are you going to hold on to? Which one is going to
do your soul good? The Lord Jesus Christ came to
fulfil the Father's will. He came to redeem that covenant
people. He came to save souls, to cleanse,
to free us, to deliver us from judgment and condemnation and
to dwell eternally with us. And he did. He was successful
and he accomplished and achieved his purpose. Colossians 1.22
says that in the body of his flesh through death to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. You know me, we may not feel
it. We may not feel it all the time. We may feel it infrequently. But we have the authority of
the word of God to believe that this is how it is, because the
Apostle Paul has declared it as the very mind of God. This
is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the testimony of
the word of truth says this, that there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Amen.