Please take your copy of God's Word and join me in Romans chapter 8.
!
Our text for today is Romans chapter 8 verses 1 through 4.
!
Romans would be the gem that enhanced that ring.
And Romans 8 would be the brilliant splendor that emanated from that ring.
This is perhaps my favorite chapter in the Bible.
In fact, when I suggested that we study Romans as a church to your elders,
I had this chapter in mind.
So the rest of it is of great value.
The entirety of the book is good for us.
But oh, chapter 8.
I have been long awaiting getting to this text.
So let's not delay as we have planned to look at the first four verses today.
Before I read it, let me remind you, beloved.
This is God's Word to us.
It was written for His glory and our good.
And so we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
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 condemned 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.
Our text this morning begins with,
There is therefore now.
So let's briefly think about what he means by this opening phrase.
He certainly means something that he's going to say in the text,
but I also think he's generally referencing back to the entire letter up to this point.
So let's draw a straight line through his argument to get our bearing for today.
You may remember back in Romans chapter 1, verse 16 and 17,
Paul's thesis statement for the entirety of his letter.
There he says,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, or hear it in the positive,
I am proud of the good news of Christ,
for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.
As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
And we have been driving the point that we are saved,
we are declared righteous, justified before God by grace alone,
through faith alone,
in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.
And I have been contending to you that this is not a thing that should be assumed in our day,
but it's a thing that should be held onto and held tightly onto and contended for.
He then begins to set up the great problem of sin in the world.
We'll pick up in chapter 2, verse 12 and 13.
There he says,
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, Gentiles.
And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law, Israelites.
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God,
but the doers of the law who will be justified.
But then he goes on to talk about in chapter 3 how none is righteous.
No, not one.
So if it's the doers of the law who will be justified,
then we have a great problem.
We cannot be justified by our doing of the law
because we have already failed in our keeping of the law.
So chapter 5 and verse 1, there he says,
Therefore, since we have been justified by, not our works, but by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Justified by grace through faith in Christ.
And then chapter 6 and verse 6, there he writes,
We know that our old self was crucified with him
in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing
so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
And we've been working out all that this means
through the rest of chapter 6 and through chapter 7.
But I think not only is Paul generally referencing back to the entire letter,
but he is also certainly specifically referencing the end of chapter 7.
So read with me from verse 23 to the end.
There he says, he's stated that he's been set free from the power of sin,
but here he says,
I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind
and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
There's this struggle still in this life with his old self.
He's got new desires and yet he seems to be at competition within.
In verse 24 he breaks out and says,
Wretched man that I am,
who would deliver me from this body of death?
And the answer is that question,
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And that's where we pick up.
Sometimes our chapter breaks are very helpful to us in our Bibles.
And sometimes they are not.
This is one of the cases I wish that there was not a chapter break here.
Because it goes right into this,
There is therefore now
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The Greek word here rendered condemnation
relates to the sentencing of a crime,
but focuses not on the verdict,
but on the penalty the verdict demands.
Its emphasis is not on the declaration of guilt,
but on the price that must be paid
for the crime of rebellion against our God.
Paul tells us that for those who are in Christ Jesus,
there is no longer any condemnation.
There's no longer a price that must be paid
for it was paid for us.
However, the implication is that for those who are not in Christ Jesus,
there is condemnation.
And we must take some time to consider this.
If we're to rightly appreciate what it means
for there to be no condemnation,
what does it mean for there to be condemnation?
Paul has told us previously in the letter
what sin has purchased for us
if we are not in Christ Jesus.
Chapter 6 and verse 23,
For the wages of sin is death.
Death, not just temporal, which we will all experience,
but eternal death awaits all who are not in Christ Jesus.
death forever.
We get some perhaps hint of what that may look like,
although it's a horror I don't want to imagine.
Jesus says in Luke chapter 13, verse 27 and 28,
I tell you, I do not know where you come from.
Depart from me, all you workers of evil.
In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
When you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God,
but you yourselves cast out.
So at very least, it's a place of great sorrow and concern.
Death forever.
Do not be mistaken this morning.
The most important thing about you,
the most important thing,
we have so many things we tend to want to define ourselves by,
but the most important thing about you
is whether or not you are in Christ Jesus.
At the end of all things,
nothing else will matter.
The American pastor, Jonathan Edwards,
once preached a sermon called
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
He preached it in 1741,
which is in the midst of the Great Awakening,
and it was an exposition of Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 35.
I want to read to you just a short excerpt from this sermon.
I'm going to do my best to read it well,
but history tells us that he read this standing at the back of this room.
He wasn't facing anybody.
Nobody was looking at him,
and he read it extremely flat.
And yet people were begging him to stop reading
because of the conviction they were feeling.
But I'll try to read it better for your benefit.
He said this,
There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God.
There is hell's wide, gaping mouth open,
and you have nothing to stand upon,
nor anything to take hold of.
There is nothing between you and hell but the air.
It is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
You probably are not sensible of this.
You find you are kept out of hell,
but you do not see the hand of God in it,
but look at other things,
at the good state of your bodily constitution,
your care of your own life,
and the means you use for your own preservation.
But indeed, these things are nothing.
If God should withdraw his hand,
they would avail no more to keep you from falling
than the thin air to hold up a person
that is suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you, as it were, heavy as lead,
and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell.
And if God should let you go,
you would immediately sink and swiftly descend
and plunge into the bottomless gulf
and your healthy constitution
and your own care and prudence
and best contrivance
and all your righteousness
would have no more influence to uphold you
and keep you out of hell
than a spider's web would have
to stop a falling rock.
Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God,
the earth would not bear you one moment,
for you are a burden to it.
The creation groans with you.
The creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption.
The sun does not willingly shine upon you
to give you light to serve sin and Satan.
The earth does not willingly yield her increase
to satisfy your lusts,
nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon.
The air does not willingly serve you for breath
to maintain the flame of life in your vitals
while you spend your life in the service of God's enemies.
God's creatures are good
and were made for men to serve God with
and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose
and groan when they are abused to purposes
so directly contrary to their nature and end.
And the world would spew you out
were it not for the sovereign hand of him
who has subjected it in hope.
There are the black clouds of God's wrath
now hanging directly over your heads,
full of the dreadful storm
and big with thunder.
And were it not for the restraining hand of God,
it would immediately burst forth upon you.
You don't hear preaching like that much anymore.
If you are not in Christ Jesus,
condemnation awaits you.
Death forevermore.
flee to Christ,
that you would be saved.
Believe that he paid the penalty for your sin on the cross.
He bore your condemnation
and that he perfectly kept the law on your behalf.
Find yourself in Christ Jesus
by grace alone,
through faith alone,
in him alone.
condemnation.
Because, oh,
in Christ Jesus,
there is no longer
any
condemnation.
Some of you may have been
asked to read in school
an excerpt
like the one I read
from Edward's famous sermon
to show how terrible
American Puritanism was.
I was asked to do this
in a college English class.
There is a reason
you were not assigned
the entirety
of the text.
I made a pretty grand point
of this
in my English class
in college.
Later in that same sermon,
Edward says,
And now,
you have an extraordinary
opportunity.
A day wherein Christ
has thrown the door
of mercy
wide open
and stands in
calling and crying
with a loud voice
to poor sinners.
A day wherein
many are flocking
to him
and pressing
into the kingdom
of God.
Many are daily
coming from the east,
west,
north,
and south.
Many that were
very lately
in the same
miserable condition
that you are in
are now
in a happy state
with their hearts
filled with love
to him
who has loved them
and washed them
from their sins
in his own blood
and rejoicing
in hope
of the glory
of God.
Beloved,
in Christ Jesus,
there is no
longer
any
condemnation.
Because of the
completed work
of Jesus Christ,
the sentence
that we
fully
deserved
has been
commuted.
We have passed
from death
to life,
from enemies
to friends.
We were once
estranged,
but now
we belong.
Hear me
carefully
this morning.
This declaration
of Paul's,
there is therefore
now no
condemnation
for those
who are in
Christ Jesus,
does not
depend
on you.
It does not
serve at the
whim of your
emotions.
It depends
entirely
on God,
so it
is
sure.
I hope
that you
can rest
in that.
God
accomplishes
all that
he sets
out to
and all
of his
promises
are kept.
Our salvation
finds its
confidence
in him.
But I know
that you
sometimes have
a hard time
believing this.
I sometimes
have a hard
time
believing
this.
You are
in good
company,
as am I.
Listen to
Paul once
again,
Romans 7,
23-25.
I see
in my
members
another
law
waging 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?
What does
he say
next?
In verse
25,
does he
say that
he must
deliver
himself?
Does he
say that
perhaps
tomorrow
he will
perform
better
and feel
better?
No.
What does
he say?
Thanks be
to God
through Jesus
Christ,
our Lord.
God does
the saving
and the
keeping.
There is
therefore
now no
condemnation
for those
who are
in
Christ
Jesus
regardless
of how
you might
feel about
it.
Some of
you may
have
noticed
I brought
my copy
of
Pilgrim's
Progress
with me
today.
So I'll
read a bit
more to
you from
it.
The driving
point I'm
making here
is that the
experience is
common
that we
might feel
at times
this strain.
how can
it be
true of
me
that there's
no
condemnation
for me?
Look at
the way
I willingly
sin once
again.
Beloved,
if you're
in Christ
there is
no
condemnation
for you.
This is
much of
the Christian
experience.
This book
is called
The
Pilgrim's
Progress.
And the
main character
in the book
is not
named
Pilgrim.
His name
is Christian.
John Bunyan
meant for
this to
be understood
as the
typical
experience
of the
Christian
life.
Maybe we
don't get
every bit
and piece
of it,
but we
pick up
much of
this
across
our
life.
I find
myself
in it
more
and more
the
longer
I
follow
Jesus.
So the
short
little bit
I want
to read
to you,
Christian
has met
a
companion
named
Faithful.
And
Faithful
is recounting
the story
of how
he
arrived
at
this
spot
on the
journey
along
with
Christian.
And just
before he
has headed
up a
hill
called
Difficulty,
he was
tempted
by
Adam
I.
I should
mention
if you're
unfamiliar
with this,
it's an
allegory.
He's
tempted
by Adam
I.
to go
with him
to the
town
of
Deceit.
And Faithful
considers
this
for a
time.
And so
he begins
up the
hill
difficulty
feeling
the guilt
of being
tempted
by Adam
I,
tempted
by
his
flesh
to go
to this
town
of
Deceit
and to
fill
himself
with the
desires
of this
life.
So
he's
headed up
the hill
difficulty
and he
says,
now when
I had
climbed
about
halfway
up,
I
looked
behind
and
saw
someone
coming
after
me
swift
as
the
wind.
Soon
he
overtook
me
just
about
the
place
where
the
arbor
stands.
That
is the
place,
said
Christian,
where I
sat
down
to
rest,
fell
asleep,
and
lost
my
scroll.
Christian
lost
the
assurance
of his
faith
by
napping.
Dear
brother,
hear me
out,
Faithful
urged.
So
as soon
as the
man
overtook
me,
without
saying
a
word,
he
struck
me
and
knocked
me
down
unconscious.
When I
came to,
I asked
him why
he had
thus
assaulted
me.
He
said
that it
was
because
of my
secret
inclination
to
follow
Adam
the
first,
and
with
that
he
struck
me
with
another
deadly
blow
on the
chest
and
beat
me
down
backward,
and
I
lay
at
his
feet
as
if
I
were
dead.
So
when
I
came
to,
I
cried
to
him
for
mercy,
but
he
said,
I
do
not
know
how
to
show
mercy,
and
with
that
knocked
me
down
again.
Now
this
figure
is
Moses
beating
him
down
with
the
law.
Why?
Because
he
had
an
inclination
to
Adam
the
first,
and
the
law
comes
to
bear
witness
of
that
transgression.
But
here
he
finds
himself
on
the
hill
difficult,
unable
to
get
up,
and
maybe
you
find
yourself
in
the
shoes
of
faithful
this
morning.
Listen
to what
Bunyan
writes
next.
He
would
have
beaten
me
to
death,
except
one
came
by
and
told
him
to
stop.
Christian
asked,
who
was it
that
told
him
to
stop?
Faithful
went
on,
I
did
not
recognize
him
at
first,
but
as
he
went
by,
I
saw
the
wounds
in
his
hands
and
in
his
side.
Then
I
concluded
that
he
was
our
Lord.
So
I
continued
up
the
hill.
The
Lord
Jesus
Christ
came
by
and
said,
stop.
He
said,
mine
of
faithful,
and the
law
stopped
beating
him
down.
Do
you
sometimes
still
feel
the
weight
of
a
burden
that
has
already
been
loosed
from
your
back?
Our
Lord
did not
place
that
weight
upon
your
shoulders.
You
did.
You
stopped
believing
that there's
no
condemnation
for those
who are
in
Christ
Jesus.
Listen
to the
words of
Jesus
in
Matthew
11,
verse
28 and
29,
find some
solace
there
where he
says,
come to
me,
all who
labor
and are
heavy laden
and I
will give
you
rest.
Take
my yoke
upon you
and learn
from me
for I
am gentle
and lowly
in heart
and you
will find
rest
for your
souls.
Love
still
bids you
welcome,
dear
Christian.
Jesus
calls to
you
in your
failure,
come
to
me.
He
is
unendingly
gracious
and merciful
to those
who belong
to him.
Your
standing
with him
was
accomplished
by
him.
You
are
his
and he
will
not
cast
you
out.
There
is
therefore
now
no
condemnation
for those
who are
in Christ
Jesus.
Not
there is
therefore
now
no
condemnation
for those
who feel
like
there is
therefore
now
no
condemnation.
Charles
Spurgeon
once said,
this is the
quotation on the
back of your
bulletin,
my hope
that I
am saved
does not
lie in
the fact
that I
preach
or that
I do
this or
that.
All
my hope
lies
in
this,
that Jesus
Christ
came to
save
sinners.
I
am
a
sinner.
I
trust
him.
Then
he
came
to
save
me
and
I
am
saved.
In
Romans
chapter
12
and
verse
2,
Paul
tells
us
that
we
are
to
be
transformed
by
the
renewal
of
our
minds.
Beloved,
by the
renewal
of our
minds,
not
our
emotions.
I
think we
live in
a day,
perhaps,
more than
any other
day,
although I've
never lived
in the
others,
that emotions
lead the
charge.
We are
such a
people
batted
around by
the way
we
feel.
Perhaps
because it's
difficult to
know what
the truth
is as
we walk
in such
a
confused
world.
We have
an
absolute
word.
a
clear
text
that
tells
us
what
the
truth
is
as
it
concerns
the
most
important
things.
Do not
let your
feelings
lead the
charge
and try
to get
the
truth
to
catch
up
to
your
feelings.
Rather,
let your
feelings
catch
up
to
the
truth.
We're
to be
transformed
by the
renewal
of
our
minds.
So
repeat
it
until
you
believe
it.
There's
therefore
now no
condemnation
for those
who are
in
Christ
Jesus.
There's
therefore
now no
condemnation
for those
who are
in
Christ
Jesus.
No
condemnation,
no
condemnation,
no
condemnation.
We've
been set
free
from it.
Stop
carrying it
around like
a burden
on your
back when
the burden
has
been
taken.
You
didn't do
it.
Praise
God,
you can't
undo it.
the Lord
has
done
it
for the
glory
of his
grace
to be
expressed
to us.
What an
incredible
thing.
And we
walk around
beating
ourselves
down
as if
we've
not
been
set
free
from
the
condemnation
that
comes
with
sin.
I
want
to
ask
and
answer
two
questions
about
verse
one
that
find
their
answers
in
verses
two
through
four.
But as
I look
at the
time,
yeah,
I want
to ask
and answer
them at
length
next week.
When you
make the
preaching
schedule,
you get a
little bit
of liberty
to do
this.
But let's
consider them
briefly
before I
close.
Maybe
good just
to set
our minds
on no
condemnation.
Let me
ask them
and answer
them briefly.
Number
one,
how is
there
therefore
now
no
condemnation?
Paul has
been making
this argument
to us
across the
entirety
of the
letter,
but he
sums it
up for
us in
verses
two
and
three.
Because
if you
are in
Christ
Jesus,
you have
been
justified.
This
word is
so
important.
Justification
is a
legal
declaration
that your
sins
have been
forgiven
and that
you have
perfectly
kept
the law.
The
Mosaic
Covenant
requires
this of
us.
If we're
to be
God's
people,
we have
to be
perfect
law
keepers.
And we
haven't.
We have
failed at
this.
We deserve
the punishment
of our
sin.
That debt
has to be
canceled.
But not
just that,
we also
have to be
perfect
law
keepers.
And so
we get
both
from
Christ.
It's the
doctrine of
double
imputation.
We'll talk
about it
at length.
next week.
Our sin
taken
by Him,
given to
Him,
and His
righteousness
given
to us.
So briefly
see that
in verses
2 and
3.
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.
We could
not keep
the law
in our
sinful
flesh
flesh.
By
sending
His
own
Son
in the
likeness
of
sinful
flesh
and for
sin,
He
condemned
sin
in
the
flesh.
Whose
flesh?
In
Christ's
flesh
on our
behalf.
So you
see,
Jesus'
perfect
law
keeping
and His
taking
of our
condemnation
there in
the text.
Christ's
But also
we should
ask,
why
have
you been
set
free
in
Christ
Jesus?
So that
we might
be
sanctified.
Another
important
term.
Sanctification
is the
growing
process
of becoming
holy.
When we're
declared
righteous,
this is
an eternal
state in
which we
stand.
It's a
positional
thing,
but then
we are
in this
life
sanctified.
Bit
by bit,
one
degree of
glory to
another,
Paul says.
We grow
in holiness.
Justification
necessarily
leads to
sanctification,
and much of
the rest of
this chapter
is about
that.
How do
we do
that?
Well,
we live
life by
the Spirit.
We're
empowered
by Him
to keep
God's
law.
Always
starting with
the fact
that we're
no longer
condemned
in Christ,
we're now
set free
to be
obedient
by the
power.
of the
Spirit.
Two
wonderful
things.
We will
take up
both of
these
questions
and we'll
answer them
in depth
next week
as we
continue
to study
together.
So,
we just
skipped
four pages
of notes.
We bring
you back
to verse
one.
I hope
it just
resonates
around
inside of
you
this morning.
Christian
brothers and
sisters,
almost all
of the
counseling
I do
is found
in verse
one.
We come
at it
from many
other places.
There's
practical
applications
to be
done,
but oh,
if we
would just
believe
that there
is therefore
now no
condemnation
for those
who are
in
Christ
Jesus.
Let's
pray
together.