If you have your Bibles, you
open them to the book of Romans chapter 7 and 8. We want to read
a few verses here this morning at the outset in order to establish
in our hearts that which we believe the Spirit of God would have
us to say and attempt by the grace of God to say those things.
I want to read verse 14 and then skip down to verse 24 and 25
and then read verse 1 of chapter 8. For we know that the law is
spiritual, but I, Paul speaking of himself, I, it's humbling
isn't it Paul to have to admit these things. He being an apostle,
he being a holy man, he being a man whom God has used to write
scripture, he being a man that God has blessed to be the messenger
or missionary to the Gentiles, he being this outstanding apostle
of the Lord Jesus Christ by the will of God, separated as he
was unto the gospel of God, he says, but I am carnal. But I
am carnal. What? An admission. Would you
make that same admission this morning? Would you make that
admission? But I am carnal, sold under sin. He says, I'm carnal, I'm a carnal
man, I'm a fleshly man, I'm in a body of flesh, and I have the
same infirmities that all men who have fallen in Adam have.
I am sold under sin. Now beloved, if you want an explanation
as to why you're like you are, You just study carefully Romans
chapter 7 and Romans 8, and I believe that you will discover why you
are thus, why you are as you appear to be to yourself and
to others. You will discover the truth about
yourself. Notice in verse 24 and 25, the
same man, Paul speaking, O wretched man that I am, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Who shall deliver me from the
predicament that I am in? As a man in a body, living in
this world, a body that is defiled by Satan and by sin, Who will
deliver me from the body of this death that I'm carrying around?
A body that's dying every day. Who will deliver me from this
situation, this set of circumstances? I thank God in verse 25. I thank
God. Paul has hope. Paul has had his
eyes opened. The Spirit of God has come into
his heart and has revealed the truth to him. And he says, I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well, beloved, there
is where the answer is. There's where the victory is.
Christ is the deliverer. He's the one that can deliver
us from this body of death. So then, with the mind, Paul
says, I myself serve the law of God. Now we have those that
would indicate to us that Paul was speaking of himself in an
unconverted state. that Paul was talking about a
lost man in this chapter. Well, where did you ever find
a lost man that with his mind he served the law of God? You
cannot find a lost man, even with his mind, serving the law,
the holy law of God. He will not do that. Not an unregenerate
man, not a man who has not had Christ revealed to his heart,
not a man who does not have the living Word of God, the living
Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, he is not going to
serve the Law of God with his mind. And so Paul was talking
about a regenerate believer. He's speaking of himself in a
regenerate state as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh,
the law of sin. Now this was what was going on.
in the life of the apostle Paul. He was serving the law of God
with his mind, but in the flesh he was serving the law of sin. And that's exactly what's going
on in our lives here today as the people of God. We have exactly
the same kind of conflict going on in our hearts, in our lives,
the same conflict, the same situation in our own lives. And then he
says in verse 1 of chapter 8, and I would remind you of something
here, and that is that these chapter divisions, and I'm sure
you're aware of this, have only been made for convenience sake,
and it's not a matter of inspired arrangement. When you read here
and you see that chapter 8 is separated from chapter 7 as if
there was a ditch or a hedge between these two fields, I want
you to understand it's just for a matter of convenience. It certainly
isn't because this is inspired. This is not an inspired arrangement. It's just that some people thought,
and they've clumsily made here, In a thoughtless way, I believe
this arrangement of this chapter 8 here coming, they say after
chapter 7, it all ought to have been joined right together. And
Paul says, there is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Notice, if you will, the word
now. There is therefore now, N-O-W,
now, that's present tense, that is with everything that's gone
on in chapter 7 and all that he had to say about himself and
about the defilement of his self by sin and about the weaknesses
and the failings that occurred in his life, and about the struggles
and trials that he had in his life, he says, now, at the same
time, with all of this going on, and all of these ups and
downs, and when I try to do good, I find that evil is present with
me, and he said, in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing.
There's nothing good about me in my flesh. And all the time
he's saying this, He said, to will is present, but how to do
that which is good, I find not. The good that I would do, he
says, I would do, but he said, the evil which I would not, that
I do. He said, I would do good, but
I find that I'm serving another law besides the law of God with
my body, with my flesh. But now, present tense. There is no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. This is an amazing, wonderful
verse of Scripture that really, I believe, gives a believer great
hope and gives him assurance that in the midst of all of the
calamities and the difficulties and the ups and downs and trials
and struggles in the flesh, that at the very same time, He is
out from under the condemnation of the law, and that He is in
Christ Jesus, free from ever being condemned for what He is
in the flesh. Now this is wonderful and I believe
that this is the experience of every child of God. And when
anybody indicates to you that they've gotten out of the 7th
chapter of the book of Romans and now are in the 8th chapter
of the book of Romans, don't believe a word of it. They just
don't understand. That's nonsense. They just don't
understand themselves. They don't understand what it
is that's going on in their lives. And so I would encourage you
this morning, if you be in this state and you say, I just simply
have so much difficulty in trying to do what's right and I'm always
struggling with this old body. It has appetites and desires
and ambitions and I'm always struggling trying to do what
I ought to do. I want you to be encouraged this
morning if you are in Christ Jesus to know that you're not
going to lose the battle. The battle is going to be won.
Christ Jesus has gotten the victory and you have the victory in Him. But I believe one of the most
wonderful things in all the Word of God is to read where there
is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. To know
that we are not facing the judgment of God when we stand before the
Lord. Knowing that all condemnation
has been done away with. Well, I thank God that since
my conversion that I've had this trial and this difficulty, because
I believe this describes the true experience. If it described
the experience of the Apostle Paul, well, certainly, my friend,
we ought to admit, if it be our experience, yes, that's the experience
I've had, and that's a Christian experience. So I have struggled
against inward sin and rejoiced at the same time in complete
justification. And I think as a believer we
can do that. I think here this morning we
can sing the songs of victory. We can give praise and glory
to God for the victory already regardless of how tough a week
we had this last week dealing with the flesh and the things
of the flesh. Now, the believer is in a state
of conflict, so we want to admit that, and we want to impress
your heart to know that in that we're in a state of conflict,
but we're not in a state of condemnation. We're not in a state of condemnation.
And at the very time when the conflict is the hottest, the
hottest, where you can't gain an inch, as it were, in your
life. Temptation rages in your very
life. At this very same time, you can
lay your hand upon the Word of God and say, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Even as
we say, when temptation is great, And so strong we can believe
the promise that God has given us here in verse 1 of chapter
8. Now the man who does not strive
against sin which dwells in him, who is not conscious of any sin
in him to strive against, that man, I say, may begin to question
whether he knows anything at all about spiritual life. If
you don't have any war going on in you, and no conflict, no
real struggle, then my friend, I question that the Spirit of
God dwells in you, that you've ever been a partaker of the divine
nature of God. He who has no inward pain may
suspect that he's abiding in death. and is under the condemnation
of God for sure, even to this very hour. But the man who feels
daily, striving after deliverance from evil, who is panting and
pining and longing and agonizing to become holy, even as God is
holy, He is the justified man. He's the man who can lay claim
to verse 1, of Romans chapter 8 and rejoice in the victory,
he's the one that can rejoice that condemnation no longer applies
unto him. Now then, souls that sigh for
holiness are not condemned to eternal death, They are in Christ
Jesus and have been made to partake of His nature, His very nature. And that's why there's a war.
That's why there's a conflict. It is written in the present
tense. Don't forget it. This is very
important as it is connected, verse 1 of chapter 8, with chapter
7. Now, beloved, I want to talk
to you a little bit about this text of Scripture. We've kind
of walked around the perimeter a little bit, but I want to get
into this text of Scripture and look at it carefully, verse 1.
of Romans chapter 8. First of all, I'd like to say
that this contains a refutation of the old serpent's gospel. Now the gospel of modern thought
is that nobody is under condemnation of sin, nobody really is lost,
that the wrath of God abides on no one, but that all are free
from condemnation. And you know, this started out
with the devil in the Garden of Eden. When God put man in
the Garden of Eden, He said, You shall eat of all the trees
of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat. And Satan in chapter 3 of Genesis
came and said, Well, What did God say about this? And they
said, well, God said in the day that we eat, we'll die. We'll
die spiritually and we'll begin at that very moment to die physically. And the devil said, well, yea,
hath God said? hath God said, surely you will
not die. God said you will die, and surely
the devil said you will not die. And so the old devil's gospel
is that a man can sin all that he wants to, and he can live
in sin, And never, never trust Christ and yet there be no judgment
on behalf of his sin. Yet God will not visit his sin.
Yet God will not punish his sin. Yet God will not bring him into
everlasting destruction on account of his sin. It is to be remembered
that only those that are in Christ Jesus have escaped the condemnation
of God. If you're in a state of nature
outside of Christ, you are facing condemnation. Listen to what? And these are sobering words.
John chapter 3 verse 18, Jesus said, Behold, He said, He that
believeth is not condemned. He that believeth is not condemned. But, he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Isn't that plain? For this is
the condemnation, that light is coming to the world, and men
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. So they're under the condemnation
of God. God says if a man is unrepentant,
He says that if a man is living in a state of nature and he's
not in Christ Jesus, that the condemnation of God is upon him. In John 3 and 36 it says, He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. The wrath of God abides on you. Now beloved, these are serious
verses of Scripture. And somebody says, well, you
know, I really believe that it's not necessary for a man to repent. because it won't matter, because
when we die, we'll just be dead like a dog. Well, the Bible says
the wrath of God abides on you. You have a never-dying soul,
and you're going to live somewhere for all eternity. And the wrath
of God abides on you if you be not in Christ Jesus. And so somebody else would say,
well, you know preacher, I believe in purgatory. I believe in just
a purgatorial period. All you got to do when you die,
you'll just be in purgatory for a while. It's a little longer
road, but you're going to get around and you're going to be
in heaven finally. The Lord will let you in at last
because God is too merciful and he's so gracious that he would
never send anybody to hell for all eternity. Don't you believe
a word of that? Don't you believe a word of that,
my friend? That is the devil's gospel. That's a devil's lie. I'm here to tell you that unless
you're in Christ Jesus, you are lost, and the wrath of God abides
upon you, and as soon as you leave this life, you'll be taken
by the black angels of hell to that place where the worm doth
not and the fire is not quenched. And so we need to face these
truths. There is no such thing as general
amnesty taught in the Bible. No, there is no such thing as
God for a while putting you in a place like purgatory, like
we're told purgatory is. and then finally letting you
out. You will die for all eternity.
The Bible says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,
but he that believeth not shall be damned. And they will be damned
for all eternity if they believe not on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Bible teaches clearly
here in this verse of Scripture, and these things need to be firmly
stated, that the only people that are escaping condemnation
are they that are in Christ Jesus. Now, Paul believed the sinner
is under the condemnation of sin, and that is, as we said,
a very terrible truth, but that's what the Word of God teaches.
It is the work of Almighty and Sovereign Grace to put men into
Christ Jesus. And by this, they escape the
condemnation that is due to sin, and this is the only way to escape
it. is to be put into Christ Jesus.
We're told in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30, But of
God are ye in Christ Jesus. Of God are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Now my friend, God only can put
you in Christ. God only. And thanks be unto
God for that day and hour long ago, before the foundation of
the world, wouldn't all the saints of God rejoice to know that God
chose them in Christ Jesus before the world began. chose us in
reference to Christ and placed us in Him. And the Lord Jesus
Christ came into the world. He had our names upon His breastplate. And He came knowing His people
and He said, My name shall be called Jesus. for I shall save
my people from their sin. I'm going to save them from their
sin. Well, how are you going to do
that, dear Jesus? I'm going to do that by representing them. I'm going to do that by living
a life for them that the Father will approve of, and then God
the Father will impute or accredit or reckon that holy life of mine
unto the sinner, unto the believing sinner. And that's how we get
into Christ Jesus. Isn't this wonderful to know
that it's the work of God that puts us in Christ Jesus. There is therefore now condemnation
to them who are not in Christ Jesus. And so remember that.
Are you in Him? This needs to be stressed as
we said. We're not on probation in this
world. We are in a state of present
condemnation under the wrath of God unless Christ has, unless
He has represented us and died in our room instead of place.
Condemned already, think of it. You will stay in this state till
you believe. And when you believe, then my
friend, you will be translated out from under the judgment and
condemnation of God into the Lord Jesus where judgment and
condemnation has already fallen. Our condemnation fell, you see,
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. These words, you say, these are
kind of tough words. Well, I want to remind you that
you cannot sow without a needle. And these words are the needle
to make way for the red thread of the Gospel. When we tell you
that you're under the condemnation of sin, and under the wrath of
God is to prick your heart, and to make you want to be delivered
and to cry out as Paul did. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
can deliver me? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. There is deliverance through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, we have the description
of the believer's position. He's in Christ Jesus. I want
that to be impressed upon your mind. Well, how is he in Christ? Well, as we've already explained,
by a sovereign act of God, and then secondly, by an act of simple
dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. There comes a time when
every sinner that is saved when he trusts Christ, when he believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ for himself. You see, the Lord Jesus
is like that city of refuge spoken of in Numbers chapter 35 in verses
9 through 15. It tells about how that the manslayer,
that after he had slain a man, the avenger of blood was after
him and he must run. He must run until he enters in
to the city of refuge. And when he gets inside of that
city, then he is safe. And this is exactly the message
of the gospel. That a sinner, that hell, the
hounds of hell is after the sinner. And the sinner will only be safe
when he gets into the Lord Jesus Christ by a simple act of dependence
upon Jesus. And so my friend, are you in
the ark of safety? Are you in the city of refuge? You remember Noah's ark, and
how we pointed out to you many times that Noah and his family
were safe when they got in the ark. Only when they got in the
ark. That ark is a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Are you in the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, you're safe. Hell and
judgment! has already fallen on the Lord
Jesus. And when He suffered hell, and
when He suffered judgment, that was my condemnation. That was
due me. And He died and suffered in my
room, in my stead, in my place. He suffered my hell for me on
that cross. He died for me. He died in my
place. He was wounded for our transgression
and for the chastisement of our peace the Lord Jesus Christ suffered. Now let me ask you this. Do you
stand before God this morning on your own footing or do you
rest upon Christ? Do you stand on your own footing?
Are you still of opinion that if you continue like you are
and keep trying all the time to do a little better that sooner
or later God's going to approve of you? That's what I mean when
I'm saying you stand on your own footing. Are you of that
opinion? Is your gospel, just do the best
you can and you'll be alright in the end? My friend, you're
going to hell as sure as I'm preaching to you. I'm telling
you the truth. You must rest your soul upon
the finished work of Christ the Deliverer, Christ the Redeemer.
And you cannot be saved apart from doing so. Do you find your
all in Him? Do you look for salvation by
self? Or for salvation by Christ? Are you hiding in Christ? Or
do you hide behind what you are? Who you are? About your standing
in the community? About your religion? Do you stand
behind that? Is that your hope? My friend,
if it be your hope, you're lost. You're lost. You'll be lost forever. The common man passes from the
center as he enters in by simple dependence and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then let me say that Paul
says, therefore, when he starts this chapter, there is therefore.
Now, what does he mean by that? Well, he means that what he said
and taught before is what builds up here to this conclusion that
there is no condemnation. Now, if you were to look in chapter
5, of the book of Romans, you would find where Paul talked
about the federal headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this
is so important to see. You see, apart from the doctrine
of substitution, there cannot be any escape. Christ is the
substitute of the sinner. And here in the fifth chapter,
listen to these verses. For not as the offense, so also
is the free gift. In verse 15, for if through the
offense of one many be dead, that's talking about Adam, his
offense, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace,
which is what one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. So you see here how that Adam,
through Adam's sin, we died, and we were lost in Adam, and
it's by the grace of God and the gift by grace of God's Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and His work on our behalf, that we have
been delivered. And he goes on to say in verse
17, For if by one man's offense death reign by one, much more
they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. You see, this is talking
about the federal headship of the Lord Jesus. And when I mentioned
briefly earlier that He came into this world representing
us, this is what I mean. We were in Him when He came into
this world. And when He died under the wrath
of God, it was my death. It satisfied the wrath of God
when He died. And I died in Him and satisfied
the wrath of God. That's why there's no condemnation. That's why there's no condemnation.
The wrath of God has already been plunged into the soul of
my substitute. And He died for us. Therefore,
in verse 18, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation. That's in Adam. All men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, who have a standing by faith, all those who have
been chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world, upon
all these men unto justification of life. No general amnesty. This is talking about particular
redemption and particular grace through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 19, you see it clearly. For as by one man's
disobedience, he keeps referring here to Adam and what he did,
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. And that obedience is the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it wonderful to know that
when the Lord Jesus was walking this earth. And when He was committing
no sin. When the Lord Jesus, no sin could
be pinned on Him. No fault could be found with
Him. Isn't it wonderful to know that we were walking in Him,
when we were in Him, when He was committing no sin. We sin
all the time in this world. We sin all the way along. All
along the path. It's through with our failings
and our weaknesses and our sins. But isn't it wonderful to know
that where He walked, no sin. No sin. No sin in Him. No sin. He's without sin. He was the Lamb that was without
spot or blemish or any such thing. Isn't it wonderful to know that
you're in Him? That's what it means to be in Him. You were
in Him. He's the federal head of the human race or of that
race of the elect that God had chosen in Him. And so we need
to understand this. We need to understand that's
how we escape condemnation, is that Jesus lived a perfect life
and then he went on and died and paid our sin debt and paid
it in full. Now in the 6th chapter of Romans,
Paul shows us that we're united to Christ by living and vital
union. in verses 3 through 11. Now this
union is inseparable. It is inseparable. Now what Paul
is talking about in baptism there, he says that we were pictured
to be with Christ in our baptism. Know ye not that so many of us
who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His
very death? We participated, as it were,
in His death in picture in baptism. And there was a union formed.
For he goes on here to say that we were planted in verse 5, together
in the likeness of His death we shall be also in the likeness
of His resurrection. And so he says, knowing this,
that our old man has been put to death in him, when he died,
this old man died. This old man's already been judged.
This old man, you know what the Bible says? The soul that sinneth,
it must die. And there's only one death required
under the law. Only one death. This man was crucified when Christ
was crucified. You say, well you ought to go
to hell. I've already died and paid the penalty of the broken
law in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm in union with Him. There's
a living, loving, lasting union with Him. I love to talk about
that union. Being in Christ and being sheltered
by His holy life, that we cannot be separated. Martin Luther said
there's one thing that really got him in a lot of trouble in
his mind, and that's when he thought about himself and then
thought about Christ. He said, when I separated myself
from Christ, I trembled. But he said, when I get peace,
it's when I just think about our being joined. We're together,
you see. We're together. And my friend,
listen to me. If the head, if the head is above
the water, you can't drown a man with his feet. You can't. And
so the head, Jesus Christ, is above. And He has been raised
from the dead. And we are not about to be separated
from Him. We're in the Beloved One, accepted
in the Beloved One. And then also in the 7th chapter,
Paul talks about our union again under the figure of a marriage
union in verses 1 through 4. And I want you to just listen
here to a verse of Scripture. I want you to listen to verse
4. Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law
by the body of Christ. Dead to the law? Yes. We died
to the law when Christ died. One death? One death. You see,
even Even the courts of our land and the courts in past centuries
have accepted this proposition of substitution, one dying in
the place of another. I remember reading a story in
one of the French wars of how that a man, a very wealthy man,
he was called up to go to service, fight for his country. He didn't
want to go, so he hired somebody to go for him. And this individual
joined up and went to battle and was killed in battle. And
in a little while things weren't going good in the war, and so
they called this man, this rich man, they called him up again.
And so he goes to court about the matter and presents the situation
and says that I hired a substitute, my substitute has been to war,
and my substitute has died on the battlefield, and he said
I can take you to his tomb, I can show you where my substitute
has died already, and the court acknowledged that he was free,
because you cannot hang a man twice, you cannot hang him twice,
the man has died and he's substitute, and so therefore you couldn't
send him to war, and so it is with you and I. If we died in
Christ, then the devil, all the devils and the demons of hell
cannot send us to hell again, because Christ We were in Him
when He went to hell, when He died in our place. And so the
spouse of Christ will not be condemned along with the world. And this is blessed. Now quickly,
I'm going to have to hurry now. We have a description also of
the believer's walk after he has been converted. And after
Christ, he comes to experientially know of his union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. It says that he's to walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now, for those of you
that know this, it's something I just want to mention briefly,
and that is that In our text here in Romans 8 and verse 1,
this, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, was
supplied by the translators. It was not in the original scriptures. But those who translated this
was afraid that somebody would get too much victory and would
rejoice too much and they would become careless if they didn't
immediately insert something. Now, I want to say that in the
fourth verse, this was in the original, the very same sentence.
But they couldn't wait to put that in. You're talking about
legalists that couldn't wait to insert this. They had to insert
it in verse 1. And so, when I'm speaking of
the description of the believer's walk here, I'm really talking
about the last part of verse 4. who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. I thought that was interesting
myself. Now then we're told that according to this scripture that
there's only two places to be. One is in the flesh, the other
is in the Spirit. Before we converted we're in
the flesh and as long as we live we're in this body, this carnal
body, but the Holy Spirit's come in. The Spirit of God now dwells
in these bodies. And I love verse 11 of Romans
8. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, and He does, If you have the Spirit of Christ,
you're one of His. If not, you're not. He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken or make alive your
mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. The only hope
for a believer in this world to live any victory is that the
Spirit of God will quicken him and enable him to mortify the
old deeds of the body, kill them off. And so by the Holy Spirit,
every believer has been quickened into the possession of a new
nature called the Spirit. A ripe Spirit, the Spirit of
Life that is in Christ Jesus. And observe carefully, the flesh
is still there. It's still there. He does not
walk after it, but it's there. He does not obey it practically,
but it's still there. It does not have dominion over
him, because he's not a debtor to the flesh to live after the
flesh. And so, judge you yourself, which
way do you walk? Which way do you walk? Do you
do just what you want to do? Just what you want to do? Whatever
your flesh suggests, your old carnal mind suggests, is that
what you do? Or do you fight against it? Like
we were talking about in the opening remarks of our message
this morning. Do you war against this flesh? Do you go to battle against it?
And do you say, no, we're not going to do that. No, I'm not
going to think that way. No, I'm not going to get involved
in that. No, I'm turning here at the fork
in the road and I'm going the right way. Is that what you do? Listen to me. Do you believe
what you like to believe? Or do you believe what the Word
of God teaches that you should believe? What do you believe?
Somebody said, well, I think just any religion is as good
as any other. You haven't read the Bible, my friend. You haven't
read the scriptures. You read the Word of God and
you'll find that the Word of God lays out doctrine and practice. And the rule for a believer is
the inspired Word of God. We're not to believe just whatever
we want to believe. And one thing is just not as
good as another. Some people say that, but it's
not true. Do you say I'm not going to be
ruled or limited by God's will? Do you say I'm not going to be
ruled or limited by God's Word? If you do so, my friend, then
you are certainly indicating that the Spirit of God does not
live in you. If you have this rebellious heart
attitude, It's an indication. Something being wrong. Something
not there. You say, I'm powerless to do
anything about it. Get on your face before God and
cry out to God. Reach back, my friend, and get
on your face and begin to cry out to God. Lay hold of Him that
He'll give you the strength and that the Spirit of God will come
upon you in power and enable you to overcome the weaknesses
of the flesh. We're to submit ourselves to
the guidance of the Holy Spirit in connection with the written
Word of God. That's what we're to do. Alright,
and then lastly, just some general observations I would like to
make on the absolution of the believer. The text is wonderful
as we said before, and I would like to just kind of I'll give
you a little picture here. Have you ever been in a courtroom
when people were waiting for the verdict to come in? And you
know, sometimes people get out and they go back, but then they
send word out and get out the word that the verdict is going
to be read. Everybody comes in. They want
to know what the verdict is. What the verdict is going to
be in a particular case. Well, can't you just see the
people of God? The people of God. Somebody said,
well, don't you want to go see what the verdict is about our
case? Whether we're condemned or whether
we're not condemned? My friend, the verdict is already
out. It's already out! The people
of God are not condemned. They are absolved of all blame. They are free from all guilt.
And they are not going to be sentenced to everlasting judgment
and hell. Now somebody says, what a confession,
what a confession to make in the light of what we all are
by nature. Well, I would admit that this
is a bold assertion. that there is therefore now no
condemnation. Paul, can you say that before
we die? Yes, Paul said, now there is no condemnation to those who
believe. Now you see, beloved, free grace
makes men speak bravely when their faith has clear view of
Jesus Christ. Now let me give you that again.
Free grace makes men speak bravely when their faith has a clear
view of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can say there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. This is
a bold assertion. But let me tell you this, it's
also a standing assertion. Do you know what this scripture
said when I was 20 years old, when I was just starting out
to preach? Do you know what it said? It said just exactly what
it does now. Just exactly. Back in 1950, this
scripture said, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. That's what it said. It's a standing
assertion throughout the ages that if you're in Christ, there
is no condemnation. Jesus said in John 5 and 24,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. It said the same thing when I
was a boy, as it says now. And beloved, isn't it wonderful
to know that the Word of God is forever settled in heaven?
Forever settled in heaven! When we get to heaven, what's
this scripture going to say then? It's going to say the same thing
it does this morning. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. I like that. Okay, and another
thing is, it's a joyful assertion. A joyful assertion. My friend,
it will make the believer laugh for joy. Make him laugh for joy. Praise God. Glory to God. No condemnation. Not facing any
judgment. The devil said, you are a rascal
and you ought to go to hell. Well, maybe I ought to, but I'm
not. Praise God! I'm not because of
the Lord Jesus, because of what He did. We tried to explain that
this morning. But you know, Mr. Bunyan says
that when John Despair's head was cut off, that the pilgrims
danced. He said, Mr. Despondency and
Miss Much Afraid took a turn themselves, and even Ready to
Halt with his crutches joined in. And when they saw the head
of the giant upon the pole, they all had to dance about and praise
God. Now listen to me, this text sticks
the giant's head upon the pole for us. His head is on the pole. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This
is a joyful assertion. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you
could lay claim to it? Say, hallelujah, I believe that.
I believe that. It does my whole heart good.
I mean, listen to me, it does my heart good. Let us have holy
merriment over this. You say, yes, preacher, but I
still got to deal with poverty. Yes. Poverty, yes. But no condemnation. No condemnation. Oh, infirmities
and weaknesses and losses and things to grieve over. Yes! But no condemnation. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't it
wonderful? May a child of God here today
get a hold of this. The verdict is in. We're not
waiting for the verdict. It's in. The prisoner is acquitted. And oh, what joy! Oh, what joy! Now let me make this point. This is no raving fanaticism. Somebody said it sounded like
it to me. This is raving fanaticism. All this carrying on by the preacher
over this business of no condemnation now in Christ Jesus. Fanaticism is what it is. Aren't you afraid, preacher?
Is somebody going to get the idea here they can go out and
live like they want to? My friend, I'm going to tell you this. I've
not had any success in my life as a preacher. And I've been
at it 50 years. No success of getting people
not to do what they want to do. I haven't had any success in
doing it. Now, maybe you think that a preacher can control people.
I don't want anything to do with controlling people myself. Nothing. I'm going to tell you, a man's
going to do whatever his old heart and soul dictates unless
he falls in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. And out of love
toward Christ for what he's done for Him, he will walk the straight
and narrow. He'll do what he ought to do.
And my friend, if a man, you know there's some people, I read
a story one time about a fella, And he was told by the commanding
officer that the army had conquered a village and they were marching
through and this man was told, well all the men were told, they're
not to pillage, they're not to steal anything on the penalty
of death, on the penalty of death. And so they were going through
and so this one soldier, he saw this big bunch of grapes And
so he reached up and grabbed that big bunch of grapes and
started eating them. Well, of course, somebody turned him in
to the commanding officer. He's called before the general
and he's sentenced to die. And this man still had the grapes.
And so while he was taking him to the firing squad, he was still
munching on them grapes. Still munching on them. He said,
well, shouldn't I be able to enjoy that which I paid so much
for? Now, I want to tell you something. There's some people
got that attitude. Some people says, well, you know,
if I'm going to hell anyway, I might as well just live it
up in this world. Well, my friend, let me say this
to you, that an individual that is a believer, A child of God,
somebody that's got the right heart attitude, he's got just
the opposite view of that. They say, well I've already went
to hell, therefore I'm going to walk like I ought to walk.
I've already died in Christ, so I'm going to live like I should.
That's the motive. It's not because the preacher
don't think it's right to part your hair on the other side of
your head. It's not because the preacher thinks you ought to
do this or do that. I don't want anything to do with
that. And I don't want anybody in this church that's got the
idea they can run everybody in here and they're watchdogs and
they're always keeping an eye on somebody and reporting what
they see and so on. I don't want anything to do with
it. Nothing! Do I want to do with that kind
of stuff? If you don't love Christ enough to live for Him after
all that He's done for you, then my friend, go ahead and munch
your grapes on the way to the firing squad. I tell you that
I believe that love to Christ is the motive that moves us to
Christian obedience and to faithfulness in the Lord's way. And nothing
else is going to do it. Sister, brother, if you don't
love Christ, you're going to do exactly what that old body
of yours Wants to do and it won't be able to do any good by putting
limitations. Somebody said post the Ten Commandments
back here at the back. It won't do any good. Somebody
said nail them on every fence post between here and where that
individual lives. Won't do any good. If he can
love Christ, if he can love Jesus, if he can truly love the Son
of God, my friend, what a difference it'll make. He'll just live right,
whether anybody's around to see him or not. He'll live right. And if you don't have that kind
of obedience, you don't have any obedience. I mean, your son
that you're raising, if he only obeys you when he's around you,
what kind of respect does he got for you? No, he got no respect
for you. No, he don't. You say, well,
I kind of hoped he would have some time. He don't have any
respect for you. Because when he gets out of your
presence, he just does whatever he wants to do. He won't pay
any attention to you. And I want to tell you, but if
he loved you, like a son ought to love his father. Like a daughter
ought to love her mother. If they're right, if they're
right, things will be right. They'll be right. The boy will
say, I won't bring a reproach on my dad. I respect my dad and
I won't bring a reproach on him. I'm going to do exactly what
he tells me to do. I'm going to do it. When I get out from
under his roof, and it's my responsibility after that, I'll do whatever
I believe I ought to do. But as long as I'm under his
roof eating his food, then I'm wearing the clothes he provides
for my back, I will do what he wants me to do. And that's the
kind of respect that you ought to have for your father, regardless
of whether your father is a deacon in the church or whether he isn't
even a member of the church. That ought to be your attitude
toward your daddy, toward your father and your mother. And certainly
that's the attitude we ought to have toward the Lord. Well,
listen, is this raving fanaticism? That was what I meant to talk
about. Just a second. I'm done. Let
me answer this deduction I've made. The unquestionable deduction
of a fair argument. Let me give it to you. If Jesus
was condemned in my stead, then there can be no condemnation
by me or for me. None whatsoever. And to that
I say hallelujah. If he was condemned, then there
can be none for me. No condemnation. Well I hope
we've done justice this morning to the text. I believe the Spirit
of God has given us some help And I hope that all of us will
profit greatly from what we've heard here this morning, and
that the Lord will give us some assurance. We'll understand what's
going on, all this battle and all, but at the same time, we'll
have that blessed assurance, knowing there's no condemnation.
Are you in Christ? Are you in Christ? Do you believe
on Him? Have you trusted Him as your
Savior and your Lord? If you have, give praise to God. who enabled you to do it by choosing
you long before you were born and putting within you in that
time and that season when he purposed divine life and drew
you to himself. Father, in Jesus' name, use this
message, build up the saints, encourage them, and save the
lost. We commit this service to you.
Pray that you'll bring forth fruit to the glory and honor
and praise of God in Jesus Christ. Amen.