[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. All right, take your Bibles if you would and open them to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse 1.
[0:13] And we are going to read one of the most fantastic passages of Scripture in the Bible. Just so beautiful to see what the Lord's done. If you've been coming through the book of Romans, you have found out that you are a sinner or were a sinner and you deserve hell.
[0:29] And then you found out that through Jesus Christ we could have victory. And now, then last week we saw a struggle that even though I am born again and I'm on my way to heaven and I am a new creature, sin still dwells in me and I'm still fighting with it and I'm going to struggle to live the holy life.
[0:47] And he ends the chapter and he says, man, who will deliver me from this wretched body? Who will get me out of this? And the answer is Jesus. And in Romans chapter 8 and verse 1, he starts off and he says the following words.
[1:00] If you have your Bible open, I hope you'll mark some verses and words. And here 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.
[1:13] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus have 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.
[1:41] 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.
[1:53] Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, 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.
[2:08] 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.
[2:20] And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But 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.
[2:38] Father, I pray that You would make this passage of Scripture come alive today, and I pray that You would challenge and motivate us as we realize the victory that we have in you, and that yes, we can live a holy life.
[2:53] Yes, we can live out Your will. Yes, Your law can be fulfilled in our hearts. And I pray, God, that You would show Your great power today. Speak to hearts, Lord. There might be somebody here that doesn't know You, that's not sure they'd go to heaven if they died.
[3:07] There might be somebody here, Lord, that's struggling with living a spiritual and holy life and not understanding that we have victory. I pray, God, that Your name would be glorified and magnified, and Your Word would be glorified, and we'll give You praise for it all.
[3:21] In Jesus' name, amen. Romans chapter 8. The emphasis in this chapter is the Holy Spirit. He's mentioned 19 times in this chapter. In these first 11 verses, He's mentioned 11 times.
[3:34] Someone said that Romans 8 had become peculiarly precious to Him because of its outline. It begins with no condemnation, ends with no separation, and in between, no defeat.
[3:47] After the struggle that the mature believer has against sin, we see that victory comes from and through Jesus Christ. We have victory. There is no reason why we cannot live a victorious Christian life.
[4:01] He won the victory, and the Holy Spirit will work out that victory in us. We are spiritual. We live in and walk in the Spirit. We are not an Adam.
[4:13] We are not in the flesh. We do not have a carnal mind, but that does not mean that we do not do anything fleshly or have fleshly thoughts. Let me walk you through some things in Romans chapter 8.
[4:24] I hope you have your Bible open there. I hope you'll prepare to underline some things and mark some things. Number one, I want to show you some truths about those that are in the flesh. Those that are in the flesh. I grew up all my life thinking that as a Christian, sometimes I slipped over into the flesh, and in the flesh I couldn't please God.
[4:41] And I kind of had that passage totally out of context. And I was always kind of like wondering, is God like me today or does He not like me? But I can just tell you that this whole chapter is really an explanation of the first verse.
[4:54] The whole chapter is an explanation of this. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And so I want to talk to you about the flesh real quickly and what it says here.
[5:06] If you have your Bible open, you mark it so you'll know what it means to be in the flesh. The first thing it means, look at verse 5. They mind the things of the flesh.
[5:17] They mind fleshly things. Verse 5. 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. To mind the things of the flesh means to have that mindset.
[5:31] It means to give your will and affections and conscience to it. It means to have an opinion that would be according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit. The idea of being minded is that you would be devoted to.
[5:45] It's the idea of pride and arrogance. I think about me and I think about what I can do is to be in the flesh. To think and to be minding spirit or fleshly things.
[5:57] The second thing it says about a fleshly person. Look at verse 6. They are carnally minded. They are carnally minded. For to be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
[6:10] Because a carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. I want you to get some things straight this morning.
[6:21] You've been using the idea of getting into the flesh or being carnal as an excuse for sin. You've been like saying I just can't help it sometimes I just get in the flesh. I can't help it sometimes I'm just carnal.
[6:32] And in a sense those are true words. In a sense you can live fleshly. But you can't be in the flesh. Look if you would at what it means to be a carnal mind. A carnal mind is enmity against God.
[6:45] You should underline the word enmity. It means you are in a state of an enemy. You are an enemy. It means I hate God. It means we're on the opposite sides of a war. It means he's shooting at me and I'm shooting at him.
[6:58] It says here that the carnal mind can't be subject to the law of God. It cannot be subject. It will not submit itself. It can't submit itself to the law of God. And it won't and it can't.
[7:10] And it brings death. The carnal mind basically means to think on things that are related to bodily pleasures and appetites. It has to do with the senses.
[7:20] The lowest nature of a person. It almost means to be like an animal and to have an animal-like existence. Carnal. Fleshly. Talks about the body.
[7:32] In Spanish the word for flesh is carnal. Carnal. Very same thing. Look at verse 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
[7:43] They cannot please God. If you think on yourself, you cannot please God. If you think about what makes you happy or pleases you, you cannot please God.
[7:56] So I want you to get this straight before I leave this. If you're in the flesh, that means it's referring to a specific group. In other words, we might have a heading here that says those that are in the flesh.
[8:07] And those that are in the flesh have certain characteristics and it's a certain group of people. It is those that are not saved. It is those that are not after the things of God.
[8:17] It is those that hate God. Those that will not obey God. Those that cannot even obey God. Verse 7 said, the carnal mind is enmity against God.
[8:29] It is not subject to the law of God and it can't even be that way. Neither indeed can be. Those in the flesh refers to those still in Adam, in their sin, not saved, not born again.
[8:42] The flesh refers to rebellion to God and His will for their lives. At the camp this past week, I drew on the screen or had them draw on the screen.
[8:53] And I had them put a spot over here where it said Satan and his kingdom, Satan and the world. And on this other side, I had them draw another one. And it said Jesus and his kingdom. And I had them draw a line between it.
[9:05] And I asked them to put an X wherever they were in that line. You see, if you're in Satan and his kingdom, here's what you are. You're saying, I will make my decisions. I want to rebel against God. I do my own thing and I don't like anybody telling me what to do.
[9:18] I don't like being told what I want God to. And if you're on this side, you're saying, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. God, I want your name to be honored and glorified.
[9:31] God, I want your will more than I want mine. The flesh is over here saying, no, I don't want God's will. And the other group is going to be on the other side. Look at some truths about the Spirit. Those that are in the Spirit.
[9:42] Look if you would, in Romans chapter 8. You got your Bible open. Romans chapter 8 verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not out of the flesh but after the Spirit.
[9:55] First thing I want you to notice, and I wish you'd circle this in your Bible big time. In Christ Jesus. Look at chapter 8 verse 1. In Christ Jesus.
[10:05] Now I need to remind you of a dozen Bible studies that we've already had. So let me remind you, there are two races of people on the planet. There are two fathers on the planet.
[10:16] Earthly, human, in that sense, human fathers. One is Adam, the flesh. The one who rebelled against God. And the one who decided that he would do what he wanted to do. Adam.
[10:27] And there's another family, and that's Jesus. This is the Spirit. This is Jesus. This is a whole different family. This is Adam. This is the human race, and that's where we were. Today, I am in Christ Jesus.
[10:40] I was born into Adam, and I was born again into Jesus. How many of you this morning have been born again into Christ? Say amen. Circle the words. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
[10:55] Put a circle around. In Christ Jesus. They're in him. Get this. Those about the Spirit. The righteousness of the law can be fulfilled in them. But did you know that Romans is not about, well, the law is no good, and we'll never obey the law, and doing right and holy living is not what we're about?
[11:14] That's not at all the story. The story of Romans is you can't obey the law. The story of Romans is that the law condemns you. The story of Romans is it tells you you stink.
[11:26] And then it says, but the Holy Spirit can. Jesus can. God can. And look at what it says in Romans chapter 8, verse 4. It says that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.
[11:41] That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. It's the work of the Holy Spirit that will bring us to see the law fulfilled in us.
[11:53] They think, spiritual people think on the things of the Spirit of God. Spiritual people think on the spiritual things. Look at Romans chapter 8 and verse 5.
[12:04] Got it? The Bible says, Did you know it? What are you devoted to?
[12:17] What's your mind hung on? What do you like to think about? Your will, your plan, and your self? Or do you have like God is like he's the center of your universe? He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
[12:27] He is the Lord and the King of your life. They that are born again and the Spirit is in them are not in the flesh. Look at verse 9. Romans 8, 9. But you are not in the flesh.
[12:40] Would you underline that in your Bible? But ye are not in the flesh. How many of you are not in the flesh? Hold your hand up. I'm not in the flesh. Flesh over here, that's Adam. I'm in Christ.
[12:51] That's a whole new life. I'm not in the flesh. You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. You say, well, what's the qualifier? If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. How many of you have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in you?
[13:02] Say amen. By the way, if you don't have Him dwelling in you, you're not saved. Look at the verse. Romans 8, 9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
[13:15] Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Those that are in the Spirit are new creatures and desire His kingdom and His rule.
[13:26] They want Him to have full power over them. I want you to look here real carefully. There are two groups here this morning. Some of you are still in the flesh. And your life revolves around you.
[13:39] You really don't like God's will. I'm going to ask you some really ugly questions in a minute. And you're probably going to get angry with me. You're at least going to get uncomfortable with me because you're in the flesh.
[13:51] I'm going to ask you some ugly questions based on this passage. And there's others of us that are in Christ. We're in the Spirit. We're new people. These people think only about fleshly things. Things of rebellion.
[14:02] Things of themselves. Selfishness. These people think of not themselves but of Jesus. Next thing I want you to look at. We are free from judgment. Look at Romans 8.1.
[14:14] We are free from judgment. Would you read out loud with me Romans chapter 8 and verse 1 in a loud voice.
[14:24] Would you all read with me Romans 8.1. The Bible says, here you ready to go. There is therefore now no to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
[14:38] In Christ we, in Adam we were condemned. In Christ there is no condemnation. I want you to meditate on Romans 8.1 with me just a minute.
[14:50] I want you to read the verse and I want you to put emphasis on the word now. Look at Romans 8.1. There is therefore now no condemnation.
[15:01] You know there used to be condemnation. Look at me. There used to be condemnation. Before I came to know Jesus. Before my sins were forgiven. Before my name was written in the last book of life.
[15:11] Before I became the new creature. Before the act of grace took place in my life. There was condemnation. But there is therefore now no condemnation. There is therefore now.
[15:22] We were condemned but we have been delivered by Jesus and His work on the cross. We were condemned when we were in Adam. But we have been born again. Now look at me just a second.
[15:33] Do you know of a time in your life when you trusted Jesus Christ? Do you know of a time in your life when you said, I believe God? I believe God. I believe that God came in human flesh.
[15:45] That Jesus died on a cross. It was buried and rose again. I believe what He did. And I believe that it applies to me. Have you believed in Him? Have you believed in Him?
[15:57] Not as so much did you pray a prayer. Big mistake. Sometimes we emphasize all this. We pray a prayer stuff. And we say, well I prayed the prayer. Well you know Catholics prayed prayers every day of my life down there. I remember witnessing to one lady.
[16:07] And I got through getting through the plan of salvation with her. And I said, ma'am would you be willing to pray and ask Jesus to come in your heart? And she said, yeah. What would I pray? And I told her basically, she said, I'd love to pray that every day of my life from now on.
[16:18] I was like, you don't get it, do you? It's a point where you come to the place and you say, man I know I've sinned. And I know I deserve to go to hell. But I'm trusting what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary. If you haven't come to that point, you're not saved.
[16:31] You can say, well I'm a member of Vision Baptist Church. I'm sorry. There will be members of Vision Baptist Church in hell then. It's not about that. There's therefore now no condemnation.
[16:42] Now put emphasis on the word no. Look at the verse again with me, would you? There is therefore now no condemnation. There's therefore now no condemnation. That means none.
[16:53] We will never be condemned. That's a wonderful thought. There will never come a day in my life when I am condemned. I am born again.
[17:04] Look if you would at John chapter 5 and verse 24. A verse I would suggest that all of you memorize. The Bible says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me.
[17:16] He that hears my word. How many of you have heard the word of God? Say amen. I don't mean with your ears. I mean down in your heart. You know that God's word spoke to you and said, Hey, you've sinned.
[17:27] You've sinned. Jesus died. Jesus paid the price. You heard and you believed on him. It says, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me. Look at three promises. Hath, has, now, owns, possesses, insures, has everlasting life.
[17:43] I'm not going to have everlasting life. I already got it. I'm not waiting to get to the judgment seat to find out when they weigh my good and my bad. If I got it, I got it. When I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
[17:54] Hath everlasting life. And shall not, shall not come into condemnation. Will not. It's not going to happen. You will not be condemned. You will not be condemned.
[18:05] But you have passed from death to life. Adam dies. Jesus lives. Adam dies. Jesus lives. I wasn't Adam. I was going to die. I'm in Jesus down and I'm going to live. There is no condemnation because we're in Christ.
[18:18] In Christ, we have new life. In Christ, our sins were paid for. Now look this way just real quickly before I leave this. You got to come all the service or you can easily get messed up on some scripture. Because one scripture says things and the other balances out so you get the truth.
[18:31] But listen to this. There is therefore now no condemnation does not mean that you will not make mistakes, failures, or sins. Christians still sin. It also doesn't mean you won't get chastised.
[18:43] It don't mean that God won't discipline you. It just means you won't be going to hell. But if you think, come tonight. Come tonight and you'll find that God will run you through tests and trials and work.
[18:56] The fourth thing I'd like you to look at this morning is God does the saving. If there's an interesting thing about these 11 verses, I wish you'd read them over and over and over until you start seeing this. It is that the whole trinity is involved in us getting saved here.
[19:09] It's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And the whole trinity, the whole Godhead is at work. You see, the law was weak and it could not save us.
[19:20] In Romans chapter 8 and verse 3, the Bible says, For what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
[19:34] Now listen to me. Look, look, look, look. The law couldn't save us. Keeping the Ten Commandments can't save us. And we are so focused so often on all these externals.
[19:46] It's like, man, if we could hang the Ten Commandments in every courthouse in the country, if we could put it in every school, it'd make a difference. The truth is the law can't save people. Only Jesus saves.
[19:57] No one has ever been, the Jews had the Ten Commandments. It didn't save them. The law can't save. It was weak and it could not. The weakness was our inability to keep the law.
[20:10] It was the law's inability to make us keep it. The law can say, this is the rule, do it. The truth is, you tell me that's the rule all day long doesn't mean I'll be able to do it.
[20:21] Or that I will. So guess what happened? Look at the same verse 3. You got to underline this. God the Father sent His Son. He looked down and said, you guys stink at keeping the rules.
[20:34] So I'll send somebody who can keep the rules. I'll send somebody who can keep the rules. I'll send somebody who can condemn sin and say, sin stinks and sin can't.
[20:45] I'll send my Son. Look if you would. Look if you would in Romans chapter 8 verse 3. For what the law could not do. And that it was weak through the flesh. Underline it. God sending His own Son.
[20:58] God loving me and sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
[21:09] I want you to know God sent His Son. I want you to underline in the verse that He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Jesus was virgin born. Jesus was sinless in His entire life.
[21:21] He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came like we are, but not like us. He came like us, but not like us. He came like us as a human being, but He did not come like us as sinful.
[21:32] Jesus knew no sin. He lived a righteous life and He condemned sin. Jesus came and He did everything right. Jesus came and He did everything right.
[21:46] Romans chapter 8 and verse 1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. You see, He kept the law.
[21:56] He kept the rules. He actually even died for the sins of mankind. And the way we are not condemned is not because we're Baptists. Not because we go to church.
[22:06] And not because we keep a certain set of rules. It's because we realize this. Only Jesus saves. And we're in Him. It is through Jesus and what He did that we're saved.
[22:17] Our salvation is in Jesus. Romans 8.2. Look at that verse for me, would you? For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
[22:29] We ought to circle that again two times in a row. The key words, in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death. In Christ Jesus.
[22:40] It's Jesus and being in Him that made me free from dying. Free from the law of sin and death. And it's the Holy Spirit. You get this? God the Father sends His Son.
[22:51] And now you're going to say Jesus came. And now it's the Holy Spirit that produces life. Look at verse 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not of the flesh, but after the Spirit.
[23:03] What we could never do on our own, the Holy Spirit does in us. See, I, you remember, remember, listen to me before, no, hey, there's nothing in the Bible that acts like, hey, the law doesn't matter.
[23:15] God's not important. And doing right's not important. Nothing like that in the Bible. Grace is often used as an excuse for sin or a license for sin. But what the truth is trying to show you is, beforehand, I tried to keep the law and I tried to keep the law and I tried to keep the law and I couldn't keep the law.
[23:29] I was focused on externals and I couldn't keep the law. But I got saved. I got in Christ. The Spirit got in me. And when the Holy Spirit got in me, he brings the word alive in me, changes me and changes who I am and does a work.
[23:41] We live out the law because of his power and his working in us. The Christian should never think that he is to do what he feels is right in his heart, but rather what the word of God says through the power of the Holy Spirit.
[23:55] I want you to understand this. There's a big mistake goes around. There is therefore now no condemnation in Christ Jesus. And some of you are wondering, hey, now it's the Holy Spirit living in me. And, you know, I just kind of do what my heart says do.
[24:07] No! No! No! No, don't do what your heart says do. You'll make the biggest mess out of stuff you ever thought of in your life and you'll try to blame it on God.
[24:18] He wrote a book. He wrote a book. And he wants you to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. And in Ephesians 5.18 he said, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
[24:30] But in Colossians chapter 3 and about verse 16 he said this. He said, being filled with the word of God. You see, it's really synonymous. Do you know what it means to be spirit filled?
[24:41] It's to be Bible filled. It's to get this book in me. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That God puts this book into my head.
[24:53] And I don't think like an American. And I don't think like a human. And I don't think like a guy that's in the flesh. God does a work in me. He puts his word in me. Every good work produced in us will be the will.
[25:05] Will be about the work of the Holy Spirit. Look at Romans chapter 8 and verse 9. You are not in the flesh. But in the spirit. If so, be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
[25:19] I want to give you some take home lessons. Here comes the rough application time. Might ought to put on a seatbelt. I want you to realize what it means to be in the flesh.
[25:30] I don't think the majority of us are in that group. I want you to realize what it means to be in the spirit. I think the majority of us probably are in that group. I want you to realize that because of Jesus we're not under condemnation.
[25:40] I want you to realize it was God doing all the work. All the work. Don't you ever. Don't you ever take credit for what God's done. It is God who saved us.
[25:52] It is God that showed us we were filthy sinners. It is God that saved us. So what are some lessons we can take on? We are not in the flesh. And these verses make that clear if we're truly born again.
[26:04] We are not in the flesh. And by the way we can review what a person in the flesh is like to see if we're saved. And so I want to just take a second and ask you some questions.
[26:14] And I want you to think about yourself. I want you to find out if you identify more with the guy in the flesh or the guy in the spirit. Now listen to me. You can say well I've been in church all my life.
[26:25] I've been baptized and I've taken the Lord's Supper. And I've done everything I was supposed to do. But you see if you identify with the guy in the flesh more in the questions I'm about to ask you. You're not saved. So you could easily be a part of the flesh and on your way to hell.
[26:39] And there is condemnation for you. But you could have on the outside. Let me explain something to you about being fleshly or carnal. It does not mean that you're a drunkard. It doesn't mean that you are a fornicator or a pedophile or an adulterer.
[26:54] It means that somebody did some miraculous work in you. The Holy Spirit of God. And he changed you and you're not who you used to be. Did you know the Pharisees were in the flesh?
[27:07] They're still walking around wanting to brag on themselves. Religious people are often lost. Often lost. So watch the questions.
[27:20] And answer them honestly if you would. Do sensual, carnal, selfish things rule in your heart? You ought to answer that. Do sensual, things about your senses, carnal, selfish things rule in your heart?
[27:37] Let's get more specific. Do you have a secret dislike or even hatred for God? I know you didn't say you did. You never would. But in your heart is there a little bit of...
[27:49] I mean the name God and Bible and word and commandments and serving God and doing it. If it kind of raises... In your heart. Is that happening? You're probably in the flesh.
[28:01] You're minding fleshly things. Does God being God make you mad? It's like... It's like...
[28:11] Well, I don't like God being the way God is. Okay. You got problems. Say, man. You got problems. He's God. So I just don't like the way he did things in the Old Testament.
[28:23] Sorry. You're nothing. He's everything. He's God. You're not. Maybe you're in the flesh. Does it bother you that the Bible teaches you that you should please God and want to please him?
[28:34] You know, sometimes you come to church and you're like, oh, we ever hear. Oh, we ever hear. Please God. Please God. Please God. Man, we're never going to tell me something about me. I need something to help me. You might not be saved. Does the idea that God sits in judgment over you make you angry?
[28:52] Do you really get tired of the Bible and all that God has to say? Now, I'm going to go on to the next application. But let me just say quickly, you should identify yourself. You should identify the symptoms.
[29:06] Because, see, if you're truly born again, the symptoms I just read don't apply to you. You'd have been like, no, I love Jesus. I mess up a lot. And I'm an idiot.
[29:17] But I love him. And I want to please him. Yeah, Pastor, if you're trying to say I'm perfect. No, I'm not perfect. But I love him. I love his word. I like it preached to me.
[29:27] We can be sure of our salvation and how God feels about us. That's the second truth. Let's go to the second one. First one, I just want you to find out, are you in the flesh? The second one, I want you to know how God feels about you right now.
[29:39] If you're a truly born again person, you see, the devil loves to somehow make you feel less. He always likes to beat up on God's people. He likes to accuse us and to make us feel like maybe God doesn't really like us.
[29:53] But here's a strong Bible verse you should memorize. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. There's no condemnation. Let me explain something to you.
[30:04] God's not up in heaven going, shame, shame, shame, Austin. You're pushing me, buddy. One more wrong move and I'm going to throw a lightning bolt down there, buddy. No, he looks down and sees me.
[30:14] He says, I see Austin in Christ Jesus. I see him perfect. We recognize that our salvation is from what Jesus did on the cross and not our keeping his commandments.
[30:27] You see, I know I'm going to go to heaven, not because I'm any better than anybody in this room. To be blunt, honest, when Paul was lost, he said this. Oh, if you want to talk about keeping all the rules, I was the best at it.
[30:41] Blameless, nobody could say a word about me. He gets born again. This is what he says. Of all the sinners, I'm the chief. This guy goes from number one, hey, I never do wrong, to if you want to talk about who stinks, I'm the biggest stinker of all the stinkers.
[30:55] It's a major change that happens in your life. A major change that happens in your life. God saved us through the work of Christ on the cross. Here's another truth to take home. Please listen to this.
[31:07] We have no excuse to sin. Because the one who kept the law lives in us and works in us. Now you're looking here, this will make you really mad at me.
[31:18] That's okay. I'm old enough, I'll collect Social Security off my wife or something. Are you ready for this? God's fed up with this idea.
[31:28] Christians always walk around trying to make up excuses for why they live like the devil. You try to blame it on grace, you try to blame it on God, you try to blame it on, well, I'm in the flesh. No, you're not. Well, sin has power over me.
[31:42] No, it doesn't. You have victory in Jesus. You only sin because you decide to sin. When I was a kid, there was a very famous comedian.
[31:52] His name was Flip Wilson. And he got real famous for this saying, the devil made me do it. And no matter what he did, he goes, well, the devil made me do it. Let me give you a hint about born-again people.
[32:03] The devil can't make us do anything. He has lost all power. He is a lion that can roar but has no teeth. He's on a chain. We have no excuse to sin.
[32:16] Here's another one. The law has no power over us but neither does sin. No condemnation in no way means that we will not be chastised or disciplined. Nor does it mean that we won't sin or fail God.
[32:29] Now, you listen to what I'm fixing to tell you. There's no condemnation. What that means is that I'll never throw my daughter out of my family. What that does not mean is that I won't tear her fanny up.
[32:43] She's my daughter. Hebrews chapter 12 says, if you be without chastisement, we're of all our partakers, then are you illegitimate sons. You are not God's children.
[32:54] Now, you listen to this, Christian. Don't you walk out of here and think, well, hey, I'm saved by grace. I can do it. Live like the devil. No, you can't. If you're born again, you will either change or be chastised.
[33:06] And it won't be you doing the changing or the chastising. It'll always be God. We are saved by God and what he does, not anything that we have done. The same God that saved me is at work sanctifying me or making me holy.
[33:22] Now, you listen to this. Stated so eloquently in my Sunday school class by just a regular guy in the church, not a staff member. You were saved and justified in one split second.
[33:32] But sanctification is a lifelong process where God's at work changing you and molding you into who you ought to be, making you who you ought to be. We are empowered to live out a new life that he has placed in us.
[33:45] We can and do have victory over sin. Not a one of us should leave here in any way acting like we don't have victory. We have victory.
[33:57] We don't fight to get victory. We fight from victory. Our victory was won at Calvary. Our victory is every day of our life. We are able to live a holy life.
[34:08] You say, sin keeps me bound down. It's your fault or you're not saved. Did you get that? If you keep looking at porn, either you're not saved or you just want to.
[34:30] In Christ, you have power to say, nope, I will not yield myself to that. I will not present myself to that. Brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[34:46] I should never take no condemnation or his grace in my life as an excuse to sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
[34:57] Actually, that should make me hunger more for holiness than ever before in my life. I should love his law and I should love what's right. Look at Romans 8, 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.
[35:14] If you're in Christ, you walk after the spirit. If you're in Christ, you want the things of God. The little phrase on the end of chapter 8, verse 1, who walk not after the flesh after the spirit is not a caveat saying sometimes there is condemnation and sometimes there's not.
[35:28] It's simply a statement of fact. If you're in Christ, you walk after the spirit. And that's stated all through the chapter. It's repeated. It's redundant in the chapter. We are not in the flesh.
[35:40] So where are you living this morning? Are you letting sin rule in your life? As a born-again Christian, you just keep on doing wrong and hate it but you won't quit. You should come up here and say, God, I am tired of making excuses.
[35:51] I will trust you. And I will let you work in and through me. You might have listened today and found out that you're in the flesh. And honestly, the greatest expression of your life was found in the attributes of those that are in the flesh.
[36:02] You need to be saved today. You need to acknowledge your sin and trust Jesus. Don't let your pride stand in the way of trusting Jesus. Trust him.
[36:12] Trust him. Believe in him. Look to him. Let him make the work of grace. Do the work of grace in your life. Because it is him and only him. Are you in the spirit?
[36:23] Are you in Christ Jesus? If you are, fantastic. Remember this. Our salvation is not a work we did. It's a work the whole Godhead did.
[36:34] God the Father sent his Holy Son. The Holy Son died on the cross to pay the sin debt. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. And the Holy Spirit's in us as we're in Christ. And he is changing us.
[36:46] Working in us. Making us who we ought to be. Father in heaven, I love you. And I thank you for all you do. And I pray that you would save somebody this morning. And I pray, God, you'd help some Christian who's been struggling with sin today.
[36:59] Acknowledge his own fault and his own failure. And trust you. And I'll give you great praise for what you do. I love you. And I magnify you. And I thank you. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia.
[37:11] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[37:23] Thanks.