Now, take down in your mind these
two things. What the believer in Christ wants,
what we want above all things, and what the law of works can
never give. Two things. What the believer
in Christ desires and what the law of works can never give him. Number one, he wants deliverance
from the guilt and the curse of sin. He wants pardon. He wants a state of acceptance
with God. That's all one thing. The believer
wants deliverance from the guilt and from the curse of sin. He
wants pardon and he wants a state of acceptance with God. David
said, happy is the man to whom God will not charge sin. Now
the second thing that the believer wants, and both of these are
dealt with in this chapter, the first 10, 12, 13 verses. The second thing is this. The
believer wants an influence or a spirit within him that is powerful
enough to counteract and overpower the evil influences that dwell
without and within, and to which he's constantly exposed. That's
two things every believer wants. David said, O God, create within
me a clean heart, renew within me a right spirit. So these two
things that every believer wants, he wants deliverance from guilt,
from the curse of sin. Secondly, he wants a spirit or
an influence within him that he can know and that he can feel,
that he can experience. An influence, a spirit that is
powerful enough to counteract and overpower the evil influences
that he experiences without and within, and to which he is daily
exposed. Now the grace of God reigning
in the righteousness of Christ does both of these things. It
gives both. Beginning with verse 1 of Romans
8, Paul says, There is therefore now, right now, no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now, the Apostle does not say
that we are not condemnable For there is sin in us, and sin is
condemnable, and it's condemned by us. We'll be the first ones
to condemn our own sins. We'll be the last ones to justify
our own self. Paul doesn't say that we're not
condemnable. He says we're not condemned.
There is therefore now no condemnation. This sin cannot bring us into
judgment, it cannot bring us into condemnation, and there
are two words that are responsible for that safety and that security,
and that's the two words, in Christ. There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ. There's no condemnation
for sin, the cause of condemnation. because sin has been removed.
Christ hath borne all our sins and therefore all our condemnation. He hath borne all the judgment
that our sins deserve. Our justification is from all
sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin, past, present, future. Our union
with Jesus Christ secures a pardon from all sin. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. No judgment,
no condemnation. In verse 34 of Romans 8, Paul
says, Who is he that condemneth? Who can condemn us? Christ died
yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who maketh intercession far up." Now, look at the words,
"...in Christ Jesus. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus." To be in Christ Jesus is to be
so related to Him that His death is our death. and his life is
our life. We are in Christ Jesus. The believer
has been in Christ Jesus from before the world's foundations
were laid. We were loved in him, we were
chosen in him, we were redeemed in him, we were accepted in him,
and we are seated together with him in the heavenly. One writer
said this, till Jesus Christ is condemned by the Father, I
am eternally secure. Until Jesus Christ is condemned
by the Father, I am eternally secure. There is therefore now
no guilt, no charge, no judgment, no condemnation to them which
are in Christ, because his death is our death, his life is our
life. What he has, we have. Where he
is, we are. what he possesses is ours. We
are in Christ Jesus, loved in him, chosen in him, redeemed
in him, accepted in him, and seated with him in the heavenly. Now, the last line of verse 1
says, "...who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Now, for the benefit of you who study quite a bit, I'll drop
this in. In some Bibles that is in italics. meaning that it doesn't belong
at the end of verse 1, but rather it belongs at the end of verse
4, where it is. But it doesn't really matter.
One of the books that I was reading today made a great issue of it,
but I can't see that it matters at all, whether it's in one place
after verse 4 or whether it's in both places. Since it is in
the latter part of verse 1 in our King James Version, then
let's deal with It says, There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And the amplified version
gives us a little better translation of it. It says in the latter
part of verse 4, that the world is not our God, nor our guide. And we live not after the dictates
of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. Now the believer
is not without temptation, he's not without fleshly infirmities,
but his delight is in the law of God, and his desire is to
walk with God, and the tenor of his life is holiness unto
the Lord. So those people to whom there
is no condemnation, to those who are in Christ Jesus, It is
said that they walk not after the flesh, that is, they live
not after the dictates of the flesh, but they walk after the
Spirit. They live according to the dictates
of the Holy Spirit. Then verse 2, For the law of
the Spirit, now this is an interesting verse and it's a little difficult,
but maybe we can get some help on it. I think I did. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. hath made me free
from the law of sin and death." Now, the word law in this verse
does not refer to the Ten Commandments at all. Let's read it again. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. We speak of the law of gravity. we speak of the law of nature,
the laws of nature. We talk about the law of first
mention. As something is mentioned first
in the Bible, it gives you a key to its meaning all the way through. As I said at the beginning of
this message, the believer wants two things, deliverance from
the guilt of sin and deliverance from the power of sin within
and without. Now then, the grace of God hath
brought us a new order of things in our hearts and in our lives,
and this new order of things is a new law called the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That's what it's called,
the grace of God, or the law of the new order of things that's
been established in the heart and the mind by the Holy Spirit.
And it has such a sanctifying influence that it constantly
delivers us from the law of evil, which exists by birth and by
nature within us. The law of evil, the law of death,
and the law of sin, which is the very character of the old
nature. The law of gravity we talk about. What does that mean?
That means if something is turned loose up here, it'll fall. The
laws of nature, what do we mean by that? We mean that the law
of spring contends with the law of winter. Winter's law is cold,
and sleet, and snow. And then the law of spring comes
in, and it takes over, and the snow disappears, and the ice
melts, and the warm weather takes over. The law of spring is warmth,
and the law of winter is cold. and the law of our old man, our
old nature, this law of sin and death. He's not talking about
the Ten Commandments there, he's talking about like in verse 25
of Romans 7, look back there, the last line. With the mind
I serve the law of God, with the flesh the law of sin. So
it's the law of sin that we're talking about here. That old
nature, that law of sin and death, that influence of evil. And he
says now, this new law, This new nature, the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus, frees us from the law of the old nature,
the law of sin, and the law of death. It constantly delivers
us from this law of evil and death and sin. That's the new
nature overcoming the old nature and delivering us from that law
of the old nature. Now verse 3, we are talking about
the Ten Commandments here now. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, what can't the law do? Well, the law can't make a guilty
man holy. The law cannot repeal its own
sentence of condemnation. The law cannot renew the heart. The law cannot enlighten the
mind. The law cannot spiritualize the
affections. The law can only condemn, the
law can only charge us with guilt, what the law could not do. Why?
Why can't the law do these things? In that it was weak through the
flesh. The weakness of the law does not arise from any defect
in God's law. The law of God is well fitted
to answer the ends for which it was designed. The law of God
says that it will preserve man in a state of innocence. The
law of God says it will keep a man in a state of But the law
cannot make a guilty man holy. It's lost its power through the
depravity of human nature. Expecting the law to bring holiness
is like commanding a drunk man to walk straight. Nothing wrong
with the command, but the inability is on the part of the man. So
it says what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh. What the law couldn't do, God did. God accomplished. God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. God has condemned sin in the
flesh. That is, he has punished sin. He has put it away. He has satisfied
his justice by sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
and his justice, finding our sins in Christ, charged him with
them, and demanded satisfaction, and condemned him for these sins."
Now, one line there that I changed while I was reading verse 3,
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 as a sacrifice for sin. condemned sin, or punished it,
or punished it in the flesh, in the flesh of Christ, in the
body of Christ, as he was made sin for us. John the Baptist
said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world as a sacrifice for sin. In 1 Corinthians 15.3, Paul said,
I deliver unto you first of all that which I receive, how that
Christ died for our sins, or as a sacrifice for our sins,
according to the Scripture. In 1 Peter 2, verse 24, the Scripture
says, "...who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness
by whose stripes ye are healed." What the law could not do It
wasn't any weakness in the law, but the weakness was in the flesh,
man's human depravity. God's sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sacrifice for sin, punished
sin in the flesh. Look at verse 4, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us. This was, John Brown said,
and is the object and results of the sacrifice of Christ, that
the righteousness of God might be fulfilled in us. God sent
Christ into the world in the flesh. Jesus Christ met and obeyed
the law. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree in order that The righteousness of the law might
be fulfilled in us. That's why he came. That's the
object of his death. That's the result of his sacrifice. What do we mean by the righteousness
of the law? That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us. The righteousness of the law
is the righteous requirements of the law. Perfect love to God. perfect love to man, holiness
of heart, holiness of mind, holiness of life. This is the righteousness
of the law. And to say that it's fulfilled
in us means that it's imputed unto us and it's reckoned to
be ours in Christ. In Christ we are personally,
legally holy. The law fulfilled by Christ is
reckoned unto us in such a way that we fulfilled it in him. What the law could not do because
of man's fall and man's depravity and man's inability, God did
by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
as a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin or punished sin in the flesh. that the righteousness of the
law, that all the holy requirements of the law, perfect love to God
and perfect love to man, and perfect obedience in thought,
in word, in deed, might be imputed or reckoned to be ours in Christ. Now then, beginning with verse
5, you have verses 1 through 4 dealing with that first thing
that every believer desires. freedom from the guilt of sin,
no condemnation to those who are in Christ, no charge, no
guilt, complete pardon, acceptance with God, because what the law
couldn't do, God did in sending His Son into this world to be
our sin-bearer, to be our representative, to be our substitute. Christ
imputed unto us a perfect righteousness, a perfect standing. We have no
guilt. before God in Christ, we are accepted and holy. That's
so. Now then, the second thing that
I said every believer wants is to feel, to experience an influence
of power within that counteracts and overpowers the evils of sin
without and within. Now, verses 5 through 17. deals with this subject, verses
5 through 17. Sanctification, or holiness, is the evidence
of justification. And Paul takes up that subject
under two heads. Here they are. Justification
in Christ, that which we've just been talking about, Being in
Christ by grace, being in Christ by faith, being in Christ actually,
literally, legally, is necessary to holiness of life. That is,
to be justified, to be in Christ, promotes holiness. To be in Christ
promotes holiness. Our very position promotes holiness. Our standing in Christ promotes
holiness. Our relationship to and with
Christ promotes holiness. And then secondly, he deals with
sanctification under this head. Holiness of life is the evidence
that a man is justified. Now justification in Christ is
necessary to holiness of life. An unsaved man cannot be holy,
and an unholy man cannot be saved. The righteousness of God, that
is, the divine method of redemption, which originated in the free
grace of God, in the eternal purpose of God, which is based
entirely on the atonement of Christ That righteousness of
God which was given to every believer by grace through faith,
that righteousness of God which finds all of its requirements
in Christ, and in which the believer is totally passive, which is
a gift of God, that righteousness does not discourage obedience,
it promotes obedience. That righteousness, which is
the gift of God to every believer, does not discourage righteousness,
it promotes righteousness. And it's the only means by which
true believers can be perfected and promoted in holiness and
obedience. Now that's something that only
a believer can understand. It cannot be understood by anyone
else. I want to give it to you briefly again. What we're saying
is this. This righteousness of God, which
we just talked about, we have received in God's mercy, in God's
grace, a perfect standing. We didn't contribute thereunto.
We didn't add anything to it. Back yonder before the world
began, God chose us, God loved us. In time, he sent his son
to die for us. Christ secured for us a perfect
righteousness. He went to the cross as our satisfaction
and sacrifice for sin paid the whole debt. And he hath imputed
unto us a perfect standing, a perfect holiness. And the Holy Spirit
came in time and quickened us and called us to faith in Christ.
And in Christ we are accepted, in Christ we are holy, in Christ
we are legally without sin, without charge. There's no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. Now someone says that discourages
obedience, that discourages righteousness. I'm simply saying this, that
so far from discouraging obedience and righteousness, the realization
of what we have in Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit
within the believer as a gift of grace is the only means by
which truth holiness can be promoted. It's the only means by which
true holiness can be perfected. You can have a false piety, you
can have a false holiness, but true holiness and true righteousness
can only be promoted by this free gift of God's grace. Now then, let's look at verse
5. that are after the flesh do mind
the things of the flesh. What does that mean? Well, the
things of the flesh here are the objects of thought and choice
and enjoyment and pleasure that appeal to and that are suited
to the fallen human nature. That's what we're talking about,
the things of the flesh. The things of the flesh are those
objects, you can't make them all material because all of them
aren't material, but they're those objects of thought and
choice and enjoyment that appeal to or that are suited to the
flesh. That's the things of the flesh.
Now, what are the things of the Spirit? Well, the things of the
Spirit are those things, those thoughts and objects that have
to do with God and with peace and with eternal life. And so
therefore, John Brown said this, unsaved, unjustified men and
women prove themselves to be what they are by making the things
of the flesh the objects of their thoughts and their daily lives. They are concerned about the
things of the flesh. That's their concern. Their thoughts
are on these things, their choice is of these things, their enjoyment
is centered upon these things. And they that are after the Those
who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit are concerned about their relationship
with God. They're concerned about a right
relationship with their fellow man. They're concerned about
growing in grace. They're concerned about their
knowledge of Christ and the fruits of the Spirit being manifest
in their lives. They're concerned with making
their calling and election sure. They are concerned with the fruits
of the Spirit which are peace, joy, faith, eternal life. Their affections are on things
above, not on things of the earth. They that are after the flesh,
they who are unsaved and unjustified, unrenewed, they mind. They mind, or the objects of
their thought and their choice and their enjoyment is the things
of the flesh. And they that are after the Spirit,
they mind or they're concerned with the things of the Spirit. Now, verse 6. To be carnally
minded is death. The man who employs his powers
and spends his time seeking happiness and security in the things we've
just talked about, the things of the flesh, is in a state of
spiritual death. He's a part of this world, and
all that he is and has and knows is dead. To be carnally minded,
for our thoughts and choice and enjoyment to be only upon the
things of the flesh, that's to be dead. Because he's a part
of a dead world, he's a part of a dead kingdom, all these
things are going to pass away. If his mind is upon carnal things,
then he abides in the state of death, but to the spiritually
minded, the man who loves God, the man who lives for God's glory,
the man who's interested in spiritual matters. He's part of a living
kingdom, he's not part of a dead kingdom. God lives, his kingdom
lives, his possessions live, his people live. They not only
live, but in him there is life, a life of peace and a life of
purpose, a life of confidence and a life of assurance. To be
carnally minded is to live in a state of death. To be spiritually
minded is to live in a state of life in peace. And someone
said this, this life is not a life of confusion,
this spiritual life, and it's not the peace of a stone. But this life, this spiritual
life, is a life that hath peace, and a peace that hath life. Now,
verse 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. The natural mind is not only
an enemy of God. It doesn't only say that. It doesn't say the natural mind
is an enemy of God. It says the natural mind is enmity
against God. The natural mind is enmity itself
against God. It reasons against God. It wishes
God did not exist. I believe that all these theories
of evolution, these attempts to disprove the Bible, these
attempts to disprove the biblical account of creation, I think
it's actually an effort to do away with God. The natural mind
quarrels against God's providence. The natural mind rejects God's
gospel of grace. The natural mind manifests its
hatred for God in its language. It is enmity against God. And it's not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can it be. The natural mind, the flesh,
cannot be subject to the law of God. It is not and cannot
be. The law of God is the expressed
will of God. and the flesh is not conformed
to that will. The natural mind is conformed
to the natural flesh. It is not conformed to the spiritual
will of God, nor is it conformable. This is what people do not understand,
the fact that the natural mind is not only not conformed to
the will of God, but cannot be conformed to the will of God.
Augustine once asked this question. How can snow be made warm? How can snow be made warm? It's not the nature of snow to
be warm, it's the nature of snow to be cold. Well, how can snow
be made warm? Only one way, and that's by making
it cease to be snow. How can the natural mind be conformed
to the will of God? It can't be, unless it is completely,
completely destroyed and made into something else. The natural
mind cannot be mended, he said, it cannot be modified, it can
only be destroyed. Verse 8, So then, they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. You say, does anybody please
God? The elect are pleasing in his sight, but it's really not
the elect themselves who please God, but they are pleasing in
his sight as they are considered in Christ. But unregenerate man
not being in Christ before God is filthy and unclean. He's without faith. And without
faith, it's impossible to please God. He's without the Spirit. And without the Spirit of God,
it's impossible to please God. So they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. There's no way that they can
please God. Verse 9, but you're not in the flesh. You're in the
Spirit. To be in the flesh is to be under
the dominant influence of the flesh. to be in the Spirit is
to be under the dominant influence of the Holy Spirit. Now, our
possession of this spiritual character is attributed to the
Spirit of Christ dwelling in us. Look at this. You are not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. The fact that you are pleasing
to The fact that you're in the Spirit and not in the flesh is
attributed to the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. The truth is plainly
stated. If a man be not sanctified, he's
not justified. A spiritual character can only
be formed by the permanent, indwelling influence of the Holy Spirit
who dwells in you. Now verse 10, let me read it
first in the King James and then read it in the Amplified. The
King James Bible says, And if Christ be in you, the body is
dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Now here is the Amplified version. But if Christ lives in you, although
your natural body is dead by reason of sin and guilt. The
spirit is alive because of the righteousness which God imputes
to you. That does help. Verse 10, and
the King James, If Christ be in you, the body is dead because
of sin. If Christ lives in you, although
your natural body is dead because or by reason of sin, the spirit
is alive because of the righteousness of Christ which is imputed to
you. Now the body of those who are
in Christ, and in whom Christ dwells, must someday die because
of sin. That's what it says. Because
of the state of sin, because of what happened in the garden,
dust thou art, to dust shalt thou return. My body, Christ
is in me, the Holy Spirit dwells in me, and you, the believer,
but this body is going to have to die. But the spirit lives,
and the spirit enjoys a life which shall never die, a true
life which can never die. And verse 11, that's not all. 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 body
by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. He that raised Christ from
the dead will at the appointed time also raise up your dead
bodies. Now these two verses, I've had
trouble with them in the past. I think there's some help here.
Verse 10, if Christ be in you, your body's going to die because
of sin. Your body's going to go back
to the dust from whence it came. There's no way to avoid that.
Your body's going to die. This natural body's going back
to the dust from whence it came. Even though you are redeemed,
even though Christ dwells in you, even though the Holy Spirit
lives in you, your body's still going to die. But the Spirit's
not going to die. The Spirit is life. The Spirit
is living because, not because of you, but because of the righteousness
of Christ which is imputed to you. It'll never die. Your spirit'll
never die. But more than that, if the Spirit
of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, he
that raised up Christ from the dead, that Holy Spirit will also
raise your mortal body, this body. The resurrection of the body
of the believer is represented as rising from the grave because
of our connection with the Holy Spirit. as well as because of
our relationship with the Lord Jesus. That's what he's saying
in verse 11. The body that was hallowed by
the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit shall not always
be in ruins, but it shall be rebuilt in a style of magnificence
and beauty worthy of its divine inhabitant. That's what verses
10 and 11 say. If Christ dwells in you, verse
9 says, you're not in the flesh, you're in the Spirit, if so be
the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. He doesn't belong to Christ.
An unsanctified man is an unjustified man. An unholy man is an unsaved
man. Now, if Christ be in you, your
body's going to die, and it's going back to the dust. But your
spirit's not going to die, it lives because of the righteousness
of Christ. But also, If the Holy Spirit
who raised up Christ from the dead dwells in you, he'll also
quicken your mortal body. Now verse 12 and 13 quickly. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors. Somebody said, what is a debtor?
To be a debtor to another is the equivalent of having received
favors from that one, and therefore you're under obligation to show
your gratitude by pleasing him. That's what a debtor is. If you're
a debtor to someone, you've received favors from that person, and
you're under obligation to return those favors by pleasing that
person. Paul says, Brethren, we are debtors,
not to the flesh. What do you ever receive from
the flesh? Misery, condemnation, alienation
from God, damnation, guilt. We are debtors not to the flesh
to live after the flesh, we are debtors to the Spirit. Our obligation
is to Christ. What have we received from Christ?
All things. And our obligation is to live
and to walk, not after the flesh, for if you live after the flesh,
you'll die. It proves you're unjustified.
But if you, through the Spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit,
by that divine influence or power within, that is able to counteract
and overcome the forces of evil within and without, if you by
the Holy Spirit or through the Holy Spirit do morify the deeds
of the body, it's evidence that you're justified and you shall
live. And this is our last verse. We'll
deal with the other Wednesday night week. For as many as are
led by the Spirit, they are quickened by the Spirit, they are indwelt
by the Spirit, They are led by the Holy Spirit in a communion
with God. They are the sons of God.