The reading is from Romans chapter 7, starting at verse 15, and going to Romans chapter 8, verse 4.
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good.
So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.
For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being.
But I see in my members another law, waging a war against the law of my mind,
and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then I myself served the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I served the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.
By sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemns sin in the flesh,
in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Well, good morning everyone.
We're going to be on week two in our series called Safe and Secure in Christ.
A series that's really going to focus on assurance.
So I want to start this morning with just a statement to you as my Christian brothers and sisters.
And it's this.
God wants you, as a Christian, to have assurance of your salvation.
Let me say it again.
God, it's our Father's intention that Christians like you and me are totally certain that
we have been forgiven for our sinner rebellion,
that we now enjoy a relationship with God,
that he will never change his mind about us or abandon us,
in spite of our ongoing failure and disobedience,
and that finally we will make it home to heaven or glory forever.
Our Father wants us to understand that, to experience that.
Now the question is, do you believe it?
Do you even dare to believe this?
A question may already be forming in your mind.
If God wants me to be absolutely sure about being Christian,
then why is it that I'm often, so often, anything but sure?
No doubt some of you here this morning are struggling with a massive lack of assurance,
massive doubts, loads of doubts.
And no doubt you'd love to be able to believe it,
but just somehow or other it eludes you.
Your scam alert goes off in your mind saying,
well, if something sounds too good to be true,
then it probably is too good to be true.
And given my experience of life as a Christian,
it's too good to be true.
Some of you may actually be living with a lack of assurance
because you think it would be arrogant or presumptuous,
like sinful pride for a Christian, any Christian,
to say they're certain of being a Christian.
I've known people like that over my ministry years.
Some of you may be lacking assurance
because your thinking is all wrong.
And your actual thinking is robbing you
of what God wants you to see and experience.
So lack of assurance is a big thing for Christians
for all different reasons.
But the Lord says to each Christian here this morning
that assurance of salvation is his gift to us
to know and experience.
Even better, as we move into Romans 8,
even better, he actually gives us a series of reference points.
If you know about navigation and triangulation,
then you fix your bearings by triangulating
different reference points.
Well, that's what God gives us here in Romans 8
in respect of assurance,
a series of reference points
which when properly triangulated or used together
ensure we have our bearings right
in terms of assurance of our salvation.
And the first reference point this morning,
in the first four verses of Romans 8,
the first reference point is the unmerited
and unchanging love of God in Christ
and his objective work.
His objective work on behalf of his guilty, sinful people.
Let's have a look at Paul's statement in verses 1 through to 4.
Verse 1, Don's already opened up.
There is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Now Dave and I didn't collude,
but Dave's introduction picked up my next sentence.
The idea of condemnation is horrible.
In a courtroom,
the convicted criminal may know of his guilt,
but to hear the verdict or condemnation
is an extra layer of awfulness
even for the guilty criminal.
Condemnation expresses the awfulness of the crime.
Condemnation expresses the finality of the sentence.
And when we think that in this courtroom,
this is the courtroom of the holy God of the universe,
the idea of condemnation is even worse,
if that's possible to imagine it.
God's courtroom, God is the holy judge.
That it says there in verse 1,
therefore now no condemnation implies a time
when these same people were under condemnation.
Now we need to go back through the argument of Romans
to understand what's been said here.
If you go back to chapter 1 verse 18,
where Paul's argument starts,
Paul argues from there right through chapter 2 and chapter 3,
he's really saying,
look,
all people are condemned by God
and stand under his wrath and guilt,
under his condemnation.
Why?
Because no person
at any point in this universe
has ever lived consistently
with what they know about God.
Let's call it the law of God.
Paul's saying,
everybody is condemned
because nobody
lives according to the law of God.
Now that law of God
came to different people
in different ways.
For some,
in chapter 1 of Romans,
Paul says,
all they had,
the law of God,
was what they could observe
in nature
and what was built
into their conscience
in a real sense
of right and wrong.
And Paul says in chapter 1,
these things scream out
the truth about God,
that he exists,
that he's powerful.
That he's just,
that he's good.
That there's right
and there's wrong
and there will be accountability.
That's what the law of God
spelled out to these people
just by looking at nature
or by observing their conscience.
But,
says Paul,
people reject that level of law
and he says in chapter 1,
they actually choose
a domesticated God
of their own making.
They ignore their conscience
in determination
to do as they please.
So they stand guilty
before God.
And then he goes on
to talk about the Jews.
Well,
they have the law of God
in a different form,
clearly spelled out
in the Mosaic law,
the Ten Commandments.
They were so proud
of this privilege,
says Paul.
But they also stand guilty
before God
because they didn't
actually obey the law.
They twisted it
to make it suit themselves.
Paul's conclusion,
Romans chapter 3.
No one is righteous.
All stand guilty
and condemned
before God.
None live in the light
of what they know about God.
So,
how is it possible then,
chapter 8,
verse 1,
to speak about
those who now
escape God's condemnation?
Well,
we have it here,
chapter 8,
verses 1 and 2.
It's the result
of the gospel.
There is,
therefore now,
no condemnation
for those
who are in Christ Jesus.
In Christ Jesus
is the key
to escaping
condemnation.
for the law
of the spirit
of life,
which is just
another way
of talking about
the gospel,
I think,
in simple terms.
You can go back
and check that term out
where it first appeared
in chapter 7,
verse 6.
For the law
of the spirit
of life,
or,
in other words,
the result
of the gospel
is that you've been
set free
in Christ Jesus
from the law
of sin and death.
death.
In other words,
it's the result
of the actions
of Jesus
for and on behalf
of his people
who are now
in him,
that is united
with him.
It is that
which allows
this new
pronouncement
of no condemnation.
a bit more detail,
the death
of Christ
actually changes
the way
God views us.
He now views us
in Christ.
So,
it's a really
important thing here.
We often think
that the gospel
is about
how our view
of God
has changed.
And there's a truth
in that.
Our view of God
does change
when we become
Christians.
But the heart
of the gospel
is far more
important than that.
The heart of the gospel
is that God's view
of us has changed.
That's the really
crucial part.
And we're told
through Romans
that we have
a totally new
standing,
a totally new
status before God
and it's called here
in Christ Jesus.
That's a reference
to how our status
now,
how God views us.
We are now
united with Christ.
Chapter 5
of Romans.
Our being
and future
is now
tied to Christ.
Chapter 6
and 7
of Romans.
And because
God could never
push away
his own son,
there can never
be a possibility
that God
will push us
away because
we are in Christ.
And the death
of Christ
has actually
freed us
from the guilt
and power
of sin.
Verse 2,
for the law
of the spirit
of life
has set you
free.
You're no
longer obligated,
you're no longer
under obligation
to or in debt
to the law
of sin
and death.
Jesus' death
and resurrection
has set us
free.
But the question
is then,
how does a
person
be set free
from the law
of sin
and death
or the guilt
which demands
condemnation?
Well,
verse 3
tells us,
for God
has done
what the law
weakened by the
flesh could not
do.
By sending
his own son
in the likeness
of sinful flesh
and for sin
he condemned
sin in the flesh.
In other words,
we're set free
because the
death of Christ
has dealt
with the very
things that
brought God's
judgment upon us
in the first place.
That brought
separation from God
and condemnation
from God
in the first place.
So,
once they're dealt
with,
we can be restored
into relationship
with God
by means of the
death and resurrection
of Jesus.
Guilty,
condemned rebels
are legally
released
from condemnation.
Now,
again,
I'll dig into it
a little bit more.
Verse 3,
for God has done
what the law
weakened by the
flesh could not
do.
That's the same
sort of theme
as was through
chapter 7
we saw two weeks
ago.
And it works
a bit like this,
you see,
the law of God
and that means
all levels of
God law
going back to
the Gentiles
whether it's
just the law
of nature
or for the
Jews,
the Mosaic law
in all its
detail.
In either case,
the law of God
was meant
to prompt
obedience
and therefore
life or good
relationship with
God.
God's law
that
because people
are both
unable
and unwilling
to obey
God's law
or to live
in the light
of what they
know about
God
or to
seek after
God's
standard,
then the law
effectively just
is reduced
as we saw
two weeks
ago.
It's reduced
to the role
of exposing
failure,
exposing
rebellion,
exposing guilt
and ultimately
demanding
condemnation.
It can't
actually help
us.
It just
exposes us
and condemns
us.
So the law
that was meant
to promote
good life
actually brings
about condemnation.
Well,
through the
sacrificial death
of Jesus,
God does
for me
what I could
never do
for myself,
that is,
deal with
the legal
requirements
of God's
justice.
The law
says you
should be
living like
this.
God demands
that.
Death of
Christ,
in the death
of Christ,
Jesus satisfies
God's anger,
God's wrath
at our
disobedience.
He pays
the penalty
for my
disobedience
demanded by
the justice
of the law.
And not
only that,
but he lives
a life of
perfect obedience
into the
future,
which is
essential for
acceptance by
the Holy
God.
The result,
verse 3,
sin is
condemned.
In other
words,
all the legal
requirements to
properly deal
with my sin
have been
taken out
on Jesus
instead of
me.
Even more
amazing,
look at
verse 4.
in order
that the
righteous
requirements
of the
law
might be
fulfilled
in us
who walk
not according
to the
flesh,
but according
to the
spirit.
The great
transfer is
completed
when Jesus
actually takes
upon himself
my sin,
my guilt,
my requirement
to fulfill
the law,
and instead
gives me
his righteousness,
his perfect
life of
obedience,
his perfect
fulfilling
of the
law,
is given
to me.
And that
means
I now
both have
the desire
and the
ability
to obey
God's
law
at every
level
and to
bring glory
to God
as the
law was
originally
intended to
do.
So that's
what the
gospel does
for us.
It's a
great
transfer.
It moves
us from
one realm,
the realm
of condemnation
and guilt,
to the
realm of
acceptance
and new
ability and
desire and
attitude to
do that which
the Lord
actually originally
created us to
do, and that
is live in a
way that
brings him
glory through
obedience to
his law.
And all of
this in
these verses
and Paul's
argument right
through the
first eight
chapters, all
this is
God's
initiative.
And so
the wonderful
thing that
comes to
his assurance
is that
God didn't
cut corners.
God didn't
ignore my
sin.
He didn't
play it
down.
He didn't
say it was
less than
what it
really is in
terms of
being offensive
to him and
being a
judicial problem
for him in
relating to
it.
No, God
dealt with
it fully and
honestly and
justly and
completely.
But he
did so in
the death and
resurrection of
Jesus.
So the
fact that
God has
done it
right first
time round
means that
we can
have
assurance
that he's
not going to
have to
revisit it,
that it's
not going to
have to be
redone in
the future,
that somehow
or other
the judgment
will be
called into
question again
and there
be a
retrial.
Since the
demands of
justice have
been fully
met, I
can never
be accused
again.
Verse 1,
there is
therefore no
condemnation for
those who are
in Christ
Jesus.
I am totally
secure,
totally guaranteed
as a Christian
never to be
condemned.
Now friends,
if you don't
hear anything
else this
morning,
then hear
this next
sentence.
The first
reference point
in assurance,
the first
step in
finding assurance
of your
salvation is
looking away
from yourself
and your own
performance and
looking to what
God has done
for you in
Christ.
That's the
only place you're
going to find
assurance.
Why do I
emphasize that?
Because so
often our
own thinking
is the
greatest
hindrance to
our assurance.
Repeatedly we
fall into
traps that
actually rob us
of assurance,
that very thing
that God wants
us to have,
wants us to
experience,
wants us to
enjoy.
Two, I want
to mention this
morning, we
don't take God
at his word.
my friends,
this is God's
word to us in
Romans chapter
eight, verse
one.
There is
therefore now
no condemnation
for those who
are in Christ
Jesus.
God has
spoken clearly.
God has
spoken clearly
about our sin
and about what
he has done
in Jesus to
deal with our
sin and guilt
and about our
being renewed
by his Holy
Spirit and
about going
home to
heaven.
God has
spoken clearly
about all
these things.
Surely, my
friends, it's
a simple
thing to say
that when the
Lord speaks,
then we should
listen and be
comforted by
his promise.
Of course, we
hear politicians
making grandiose
promises all the
time, but you
see, that's the
fact.
They're just
people like you
and me and we
often realize they
can't deliver their
promises.
They might want
to, but
sometimes they
just can't.
But when God
speaks, then we
should listen and
be comforted by
his words, by
his promise.
You see, so
often our own
thinking about
some particular
sin in the
past just robs
us of that
assurance.
Because if you're
like me, then you
might think,
well, okay, I
can understand that
I'm forgiven for
these things and
these things, but
when I go back in
time in my life,
there's one
particular sin that
nobody else even
knows about.
I just can't get
past that sin.
That one's just
too big, too
bad to be
forgiven.
And so I get
robbed of
assurance because
I think, well,
okay, I can
understand God's
grace and
forgiveness, but
there's going to
have to be an
accounting one
day for that
particular sin.
perhaps I'm
convinced that the
Lord will hold
that particular
sin against me.
Nobody else
knows about it.
But if the
Lord's going to
hold that
particular sin of
all the sins
against me, then
my assurance is
gone.
I'm done for.
You see, that's
contrary to what
God says.
it's contrary to
what he says
about sin, being
removed as far
from east as
from west.
It's contrary to
what he says
about Jesus
having dealt,
completely dealt
with everything
that breaks the
relationship in the
first place.
It's contrary to
what he says about
my end point,
being in Christ.
It's contrary to
what he says about
the nature of sin,
that the little
white lie, as we
call it, is just
as offensive as
the greatest
mass murder in
God's eyes.
Sin is sin is
sin.
So we get
ourselves trapped
there and messed
up.
The second point
we often fall
into the trap is
we focus on our
own experience
rather than what
Christ has done
for us.
In a very
immediate way,
Romans 8,
1-4,
Romans 8,
the whole chapter,
answers the
desperate question
of verse 24,
the previous
chapter.
What an awful
creature I am.
I want to do
good things,
I want to do
what pleases
the Lord,
but I find
myself doing
the very
opposite,
repeatedly.
I'm locked
into this
struggle and
it's just
wearing me
down.
Who can
deliver me?
Who will
rescue me from
the power of
sin that
operates in me,
driving this
endless,
painful struggle
within me?
The answer
is look to
Jesus.
becoming a
Christian
frees us
from all
guilt of
sin,
but doesn't
free us
from all
connection to
sin.
In fact,
chapter 7,
as we saw
two weeks
ago,
becoming a
Christian
actually starts
a massive
struggle
against sin
as we
determine to
act according
to our new
desires,
our new
attitudes,
trying to
say yes
to righteousness
and trying to
choose to
say no to
sin.
It's a
struggle.
It's a
painful,
ongoing
struggle.
And we
repeatedly
trip ourselves
up and
fall over.
But you
see,
the problem
with that
is the
harsh reality
of the
daily
experience
of struggle
robs many
Christians of
any sense
of assurance
because deep
down they
believe that a
true believer
should not
have to
struggle.
So they're
looking at
their experience
of life as
this daily
struggle and
repeated failure
and they
think,
well this
can't be
right if
I'm a
Christian and
because it
is right
therefore I
can't be a
Christian.
They want
to be like
Christ,
they want
to be
obedient to
God's
word,
so what
do they
do?
Well,
they try
even harder.
They try
even harder
to rid
themselves of
the struggle
and be in
a place where
they can say,
yep, I've
got it right
today.
And so my
experience of
life today
leads me to
feel confident
that I'm a
believer.
And the
result of
that, I've
seen it so
many times,
is a boom
or bust
performance
treadmill type
of assurance.
Focused on
feelings,
when you're
going really
reasonably well
in daily
Christian life
then, you
feel quite
confident and
assured that
you're a
believer and
that you're
safe.
But the
inevitable
spiritual fall
comes.
I say
inevitable.
The
spiritual fall
comes and
then they
crash and
burn.
Worried,
sick about
whether they're
saved or not
because, well,
if I'm doing
this and this
and this,
if I've
failed in
this way and
this way,
then I
couldn't
possibly be a
Christian.
And so that
cycle is up
and down,
up and down,
it's very
tiring.
Cycle of
extremes from
joyful confidence
to black
despair.
Other
Christians get
tripped up in
a slightly
different way.
They focus on
their immediate
circumstances in
life.
And so they
might say,
well, if I'm
really a
Christian and
God is
secure as a
Christian,
then when I
look at my
ongoing illness,
my financial or
business problems,
my marriage
difficulties,
my health
problems,
then surely
that's evidence
that God's
punishing me or
holding me
accountable in
some way still
for my sin.
And therefore,
gosh, if these
things are real in
my life, then I
can't really be
sure that I'm a
Christian.
do you see
the problem?
It's losing a
distinction between
the secure status
we have in
Christ, no
condemnation,
perfectly acceptable,
perfectly secure,
bound for glory.
It's losing the
distinction between
that and our
experience of life
as Christians,
which is a
struggle, a
struggle with
repeated failures.
Wanting to do the
right thing,
finding ourselves
doing the
opposite.
And if we
blur those two,
again, we're
cooked, we're
done for.
Justification is
being saved,
or sorry,
justification or
being saved is
what God has
done for us in
the past and
which completely
qualifies us for
heaven.
Gives us a new
status before God.
We're now adopted
children.
Justification means
that once saved,
we cannot ever be
more acceptable to
God than what we
now are.
But our
experience of this
new status or
relationship with
God is struggle.
Struggle to be who
we now are in
Christ, to live out
the mind of Christ
in daily life.
And that struggle
will show that
we're always
imperfect,
incomplete.
The struggle will
be different from
person to person
this side of
heaven, but it
will be real.
And it's
precisely because
of this changing
experience of
Christian living
that we must
base our
assurance on
our standing in
Christ.
I'd even go
further and say
that that struggle
is part of our
assurance.
I don't know
many non-Christians,
I don't know any
non-Christians,
who worry
themselves,
whose desires are
to obey God's
law.
They just do what
they want.
The struggle in
itself is evidence
of a changed
life, working the
Holy Spirit within
us.
And we'll see more
of that next week
as Rob takes us
through the next
few verses.
Christians.
We've got to be
looking at what
Christ has done
for us.
And again, this
struggle with sin
and a wrong focus
on our experience
often causes
Christians who
start off with a
notion of grace
and salvation,
often causes us
just to default
back to a form
of legalism
again.
That is, we
default back to
our old pre-Christian
way of living,
convinced that we
are more acceptable
when we do
religious things
to please them.
But that is
driven in a sense
of us having
control and us
through control
feeling better
about ourselves
before God.
And it feels
like a good
solution for the
struggle because
as I say, it
takes back control
of our salvation.
We don't have to
trust God's promise
of no condemnation
because I'm
actually doing
things that God
must take notice
of and think
more highly of me
for because.
It means I don't
have to entrust
myself to Jesus
and to something
he offers me as a
free gift.
And so we have
this false sense
of security.
And it is a false
sense of assurance
and security based
in what we're
doing and the
results of that
in terms of
relationship with
God.
and it puts
us back on the
performance
treadmill, only
in a slightly
different trajectory.
My friends,
the performance
treadmill is so
tiring.
So tiring in the
short term and
ultimately destructive
in the long term.
I'll tell you
why.
The performance
thing of mixing
these two things
up and basing
our assurance on
our own efforts
means that
eventually we
will collapse
in failure
because it
will dawn on us
one day that
for all our
efforts we're
unable to keep
God's law
consistently.
And we'll
crash and burn.
Or we'll live
in constant
fear.
Fear that we
haven't done
quite enough.
We're doing
reasonably well
but in the
end have I
done enough
to get over
the line,
to get into
heaven, to
be acceptable
to God?
And that
fear will
crush us.
Or another
alternative that
people use in
this, who
fall into this
trap, is they
simply change the
standard of
acceptance.
They simply
dumb down
God's word
and they
reduce it to
a level where
they can
achieve it for
themselves.
And so they
tend to say
well okay,
God's standard
means I need
to keep
myself from
the big
sins in
life.
I need to
make sure I'm
not guilty of
adultery, I'm
not guilty of
murder, not
guilty of
massive theft.
And we list
all these things
and we tick
ourselves off and
think well yeah,
I've avoided
those so I'm
secure, I'm
doing alright.
Not realizing
all we've done
is just shift
and dumb down
God's standard
while we live
comfortably with
impure thinking,
undiscovered
lies, acceptable
sins, not
seeing those as
offensive to
God.
Friends, if
we're to know
assurance, if
we're to know
the assurance that
God wants us to
know as a
saved people, we
must not focus on
how we live,
but on how
Christ died for
us.
We must focus
not on our
struggle for
obedience, right
and proper as
that is, but
focus on our
standing in
Christ.
Let me pray.
Lord, this is a
massive issue for
us, we struggle
with repeatedly.
We pray, Lord,
that in this
series that you
might speak to
us tenderly and
speak to us
clearly and
change our
hearts, change
our thinking
where it's
wrong, Lord,
so we might
know and
experience the
assurance of
salvation.
You want us to
know and
experience in
Christ Jesus.
Help us, Lord,
to look away from
ourselves and to
look to the work
of Jesus when it
comes to that
first reference
point.
Lord, and
thereby, Lord,
knowing our
security in
Jesus, have the
energy and the
desire and the
freedom to bounce
back from there
to struggling
again, to do
that which we
now want to do,
honour you and
obey you at every
point in life.
I pray this in
Jesus' name.
Amen.