It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. I'm reading from Romans chapter
8, the first verse. Paul says, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. I once heard someone
say that Romans chapter 8 to the New Testament is what Isaiah
53 is to the Old Testament. If you read Isaiah 53, you will
have an exposition of the entire Old Testament noting the sufferings
of the Savior as a substitute, how all these sacrifices and
so on picture the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Romans
chapter 8 could well be called a summary of the doctrine of
the New Testament, Old Testament as well. But Paul makes this
glorious statement, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. You'll notice the word therefore. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. This is one of 27 times Paul
uses this word in this epistle, therefore. Anytime we see a therefore,
we need to see what it was there for. The Bible is the word of God. It's the inerrant, inspired Word
of God. We're working with that presupposition.
Can I prove that? No. Do I feel any need to prove
it? No. I'm just coming with this
presupposition. The Bible, the Holy Scriptures,
is the inerrant Word of God, something to be believed. Not
proved, but believed. I can't prove that God created
the universe, can I? But I believe it, and I know
it's so. It's the same thing with the
Bible. I can't prove to you that the Bible is the Word of God.
The only way you'll really know it's the Word of God is if God
reveals Himself to you through this book. And if He does that,
you'll know. But at any rate, We're dealing
with the presupposition that the Bible is the Word of God,
and the Bible makes very many authoritative statements regarding
things. And the word therefore means
we conclude this because of this. Paul makes these statements,
and he says therefore. Let me show you one in Romans
chapter 3, and I think this will lead into what I want to say
about Romans chapter 8, verse 1. Paul says in verse 19, now
we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become guilty before God. Now there is an authoritative
statement from the word of God. It deals with our state before
God. Guilty, guilty of sin. guilty of breaking His law. That's me. That's you. Every
mouth is to be stopped. We can't vindicate ourselves.
We can't justify ourselves. We can't excuse ourselves. According
to the Word of God, our state before Him is that of guilt,
guilty as charged with no excuses. And in verse 20, Paul uses this
word, therefore. Therefore, this is what we conclude
from that. This is the logical inference
from that. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. Now here the Bible makes this
claim about our guilt before God. I have it, you have it,
whether we know it or not. guilty before God, guilty of
sin against Him. Now, therefore, obviously, by
our works, we can't be saved. We can't be justified because
all we have done is sin. You can't be justified by sinful
actions. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in His sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. All the law is ever going to
do is expose to you and I what we really are. It gives no power
to obey. It gives no place for repentance. The law knows nothing of forgiveness.
It just knows if you don't do this, you will be condemned. That is the law. Therefore, no
one can be saved by the works of the law. Our state before
God is that of guilt. Now, one of the things I love
about the scripture, one of the many things I love about the
scripture is the message of the Bible tells how someone who is
guilty can actually be made not guilty. That's what the Bible
is all about. It tells us how someone who is
guilty someone who is described in Romans chapter 3 as one whose
mouth must be stopped and they may stand guilty before God,
the Bible and only the Bible tells us how that person can
actually be not guilty, not simply forgiven, not simply pardoned,
but actually stand before God not guilty. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Now, first I have to think about
this. There is such a thing as condemnation. You see, God is just. God is
holy. God hates sin. God is the judge
of the earth. And there is a place called hell
where the wicked are punished. Deep down, everybody knows that's
so. Now, I know some people would
argue against that, but deep down, on a grassroots level,
everybody knows God is just. that he will reward the righteous
and that he will punish the wicked. Abraham said, shall not the judge
of the earth do right? Now, God said in Exodus chapter
34, I will by no means clear the guilty. And that's who God
is. If I stand guilty before him,
He will not clear me. He won't let me off the hook.
He said, I will by no means clear the guilty. If I stand before
God with guilt, he will punish me. That's who God is. He punishes
sin. But the scripture tells us that
there is therefore now no condemnation, no punishment, no guilt. to them
who are in Christ Jesus. Now, that interests me greatly.
How can I be in this place where I am not guilty, where there's
no condemnation for me? In Romans 8, verse 31, Paul makes
this triumphant statement. He says, what shall we say to
these things if God be for us? Who can be against us? Now, these
are the people who are not condemned. Listen real carefully. Paul says
in verse 32, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him
up for us all. Now why didn't he spare him?
Because the sins of God's people were placed in the Lord Jesus
Christ and he became guilty of those sins. God has the authority
to take my sin and put it in his son and impute it to his
son and punish his son in my place. And when God punished
his son, his son was guilty. My sin became his sin. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather, that's risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. You see, nothing can be laid
to the charge of those who are in Christ Jesus. They don't have
any guilt. There's nothing to condemn them
for. I'm not guilty before God. If
Christ died for me, I have no guilt. It's been washed away. My sin has been washed away in
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, somebody is thinking, how
can I know if this is true concerning me? Am I somebody who is in Christ
Jesus? The scripture says there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Am I in
Christ Jesus? What does that mean? You can't
read the pages of the New Testament. without being confronted with
this concept in Christ Jesus. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.30,
of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Colossians 2
9 and 10 says in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
in a body and you are complete in Him if you're in him you are
complete you lack nothing Listen to this scripture Ephesians chapter
1 4 says according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him. All of God's blessing, all of
God's mercy, everything that God has for the sinner is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why Paul cried out, oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him. You see, there's
no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. And the only place I want to
be found is in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to be found
preaching. I don't want to be found praying.
I don't want to be found reading the Bible. I don't want to be
found witnessing. I want to be found in Christ
so that all God sees is Jesus Christ. There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now the Old Testament gives us
numerous illustrations of what it means to be in Christ Jesus. The first thing that came to
my mind was the cities of refuge. In Israel, in the Old Testament,
there were six cities that were established to be cities of refuge. If someone was out and accidentally
killed someone, the one who was killed, their nearest of kin,
had the right to avenge their blood and kill the person who
killed them. So if you killed somebody, the
avenger of blood would be coming after you to kill you. God, in
His mercy, established six cities of refuge, that if you got in
the city, if you ran from the Avenger of Blood and you got
in the city of refuge, the Avenger of Blood was not allowed to touch
you. You were safe as long as you
were in the city of refuge. Now, if you'd go outside of the
city, The Avenger of Blood could kill you, and nothing would happen
to him. It wouldn't be wrong. But if
you were in the city of refuge, you were under protection. The
next example that I thought of was the Ark, Noah's Ark. Most people are familiar with
that story. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great on the earth, and he decided to destroy the earth.
And he told Noah, you build an ark. a huge vessel that had all
the different animals and Noah's family in it, eight people and
all kinds of animals. Somebody said, did that literally
happen? Yes, it did. I believe it did. I don't understand
how, but he spent 120 years building that ark. And Noah, his family,
and the animals went inside of the ark. Now, they went in before
a drop of rain had fallen, but God told them the rain would
fall. So they went in, the door was shut, the scripture says
God shut them in, and the rain began to fall. And there was
a flood. And everybody in the ark was
perfectly safe. And everybody outside of the
ark drowned. Safety was found only in the
ark, and that ark typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. A third example
of being in Christ, God said, I'm going to pass through the
land of Egypt and I'm going to destroy the firstborn. There
was a place of safety, though. A spotless lamb was to be slain,
picturing the slaying of the Lord Jesus Christ, Him dying
on a cross, an innocent lamb. And the blood of that lamb was
to be put over the doorpost of the house. And anyone that was
in a house with the blood over the door, God said, when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. If you were in a house with the
blood over the door, You were safe. You were not condemned. You were not judged. You were
safe in the house with the blood over the door. Now, if I'm in
Christ, I am safe. His blood put away my sin, and
God passes me by in mercy. Now, there is a specific description
of those who are not condemned and in Christ Jesus. Romans 8,
1, there's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. If somebody is thinking, how
do I get in Christ? I want to be there. If you want
to be in Christ, that's a good thing. And if you want to be
in Christ, you're in Christ. God has put you in Christ. If
you look only to him as the only reason that God will not destroy
you, your desire is with Paul, oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him, so that when God comes looking for me, he
finds me in the beloved, accepted in the beloved, saved in the
beloved, preserved in the beloved. That's where God's salvation
is. And if you look to Christ right now, I can tell you the
truth. If you believe on Christ, you're in Christ. God put you
in Christ. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. Now, look at this description
of these people who are not condemned and in Christ Jesus. He says,
There's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now, this
is the description of all those who are not condemned, of all
of those who are in Christ Jesus. They all have this mark. They walk not after the flesh,
but they walk after the Spirit. Now, what in the world does that
mean? Well, first, what does the flesh mean? They walk not
after the flesh. Now, when we think of flesh,
we think of epidermis. We think of our skin. We think
of the muscle tissue. When we think of flesh, we think
of the part of the animal that we eat. If we are not vegetarians
and eat meat, it's a part of the animal we eat. That's what
we think of when we think of flesh. But that's really not
what the Bible means by flesh. Sometimes it means that. But
when our Lord was glorified, After he was risen from the dead,
he ate food, material food, from this sin-cursed world, and there
wasn't any problem with it. You see, the sin is not in the
flesh. That's not what it's talking
about when it's talking about the flesh. In Romans 8, verse
6, it says, for to be carnally minded, and that word carnally
is fleshly, same word, to be fleshly minded, is death, but
to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal
mind, the fleshly 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. Now, when the Bible is speaking
of the flesh, it's talking about man's fallen nature. The carnal mind is enmity, is
hatred against the living God. Every man by nature has no love
for God at all, and if it were in their power, they'd put God
out of business. If God didn't save me, if he
left me to myself, if it were in my control, I would wipe God
out of existence so I could have my way and I wouldn't have to
submit to him. That's the way the natural man is. Rebellious,
sinful, the carnal mind is enmity. Now, somebody says, well, I don't
hate God. I never have. Well, you might not hate the
God that you feel comfortable with, the God you've made up,
but the God of the Bible. The God who's in absolute control,
the sovereign God, the holy God, the God in whose hands you are
and He can do with you whatever He's pleased to do. That God
no man by nature loves because they're in the flesh, the fleshly
mind. Now what does it mean to walk
after the flesh? Well, to walk after the flesh
simply means to be governed by your human nature, by your fallen,
sinful nature. You make your decisions, your
thoughts are all from a fallen nature. That's walking after
the flesh. All I got to do is believe in
salvation by works. I'm walking after the flesh. That's the way
the flesh naturally thinks. Well, if you do good, God will
save you. If you do bad, God will send you to hell. That's
the way the natural man thinks. It's natural for him to think
that way. He has no understanding of the gospel. He thinks God
can be approached by works. That's what it is to walk after
the flesh. Now, all I got to do is believe
in salvation by works and I am walking after the flesh. Jeremiah 17 5 says, cursed be
the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm. To walk after the flesh has something
to do with not trusting the Lord Jesus Christ alone as everything
in my salvation. That's what it is to walk after
the flesh. Paul said in Philippians 3 3,
we are the circumcision. which worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. If salvation is dependent on
my works in any way, I will not be saved because my flesh is
no good. I'm not to walk after the flesh."
Now, what does he mean when he says walking after the spirit? There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
Well, the spirit is the spiritual nature given to every believer
in the new birth. You see, by nature, I'm dead
in trespasses and sins. I don't have spiritual life.
And when God the Holy Spirit comes and gives me life, I now
have a spiritual nature given by God the Holy Spirit. Our Lord said in John chapter
three, verse six, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. You look at Romans chapter 7,
this previous chapter, and Paul talked about the conflict between
the flesh and the spirit. If you're a believer, you have
two natures. You have the one you were born with, and you have
the one you were born again with. The old man and the new man,
and what a conflict there is. The new man is spiritual, and
the new man, when we walk after the spirit, we walk as being
governed by the spiritual man. You see, the spiritual man teaches
me to look nowhere. but Christ alone, to glory only
in the cross, to look to Christ only as everything that God requires
of me, to not look to myself for a thing, but to look wholly
to Him. That's what it is to be born
of the Spirit. Listen to this scripture. As
many as received Him. Isn't that salvation, receiving
the Lord Jesus Christ? As many as received him, to them
gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them which
believe on his name, which were born." Not of blood. You're not saved because your
mom and dad are. Not of the will of the flesh. Not because a bunch
of men got together and said, we're going to pray and witness
and keep on you until you finally get saved. No one was ever saved
like that. not of the will of man. You're
not born because you, as an act of your free will, decided to
let God do something for you. That's not taught in the scriptures.
These men who receive Christ, those who believe on his name,
are those who are born of God. born of God, the Holy Spirit,
and given a spiritual nature. And they walk after the spirit,
not after the natural man's thinking of salvation by works, but they
walk after the spirit, looking to Christ Jesus alone, his word. They find his word, spirit and
life. Now I want to end this message
by thinking about the woman who was taken in adultery. You can
read about this in John chapter 8. She was caught in the very
act. And there was no question whatsoever
about her guilt. She was guilty of this crime. And the Pharisees, I believe
perhaps they had set her up for this, they had spies or something,
but they bring this woman before the Lord and they think they
have the Lord in a place where he can't get out of. They said
to the Lord, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.
Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned.
But what sayest thou?" And they thought, we've got the Lord in
a place where He can't get out. If He says, stoner, we're going
to say, where's your mercy to sinners? You talk about mercy
and grace and talk about being the friend of sinners. If you
say stoner, It wasn't so. You weren't really like that.
And if he says, well, let her go, we can say, where's your
respect for the law? Moses said that such should be
stoned. And you're saying, I don't respect what Moses has to say.
They thought they had the Lord in a bind that he couldn't get
out of. And when they said that to him,
the scripture says he stooped down and just started riding
in the sand. They kept asking him. They kept
asking him. Finally, he stood up and he looked
at them. And he said, he that's without sin among you. And I don't have any doubt that
he was talking about this particular sin, sexual immorality. Now, if you don't have it physically,
you've had it in your mind. And the Lord says to lust after
a woman, In your heart is to commit adultery with her already.
In God's sight, you committed the act. So the Lord says to
this group of people, he that's without this sin among you, let
him first cast a stone at her. And being convicted by their
own consciences, the scripture says, one by one they left, and
that woman was left alone with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
looked at her and he said, woman, where are those thine accusers?
Hath no man condemned thee? The accusers were gone. And she
said, No man, Lord. And he said to that woman who
had been guilty of that great sin, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now, how could the Lord say,
neither do I condemn thee when she should be condemned? What
she did was wrong. It was against the word of God.
She was caught. How could the Lord say, neither do I condemn
thee? because he paid for the sins of that woman by his own
precious blood and the sin was removed, it was gone, there was
nothing there to condemn her because there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which were in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit. May the Lord enable
you and I to walk after the Spirit, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ,
His person, His precious blood, His glorious righteousness as
my way into heaven. To request a copy of this sermon
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