No Condemnation

Well, our sermon text this morning, or our

scripture reading comes from Romans chapter 8, verses

Romans 8:1–4

1 through 4. So here now, the word

of the living God.

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 a sin in the flesh,

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. This is the word of

the Lord.

Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

Well this Lord's day, we begin our journey

into what many people consider

the most beloved chapter of the entire Bible,

if not for sure the New Testament.

Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer called,

Romans chapter 8, the masterpiece of the New

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Testament.

And one pastor in a commentary that I

read wrote,

if the Holy Scripture was a ring and

the entire

epistle of the Romans, its precious stone,

Romans 8 would be the sparkling point of

the jewel.

Some of the reasons why Romans Chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

is so cherished and beloved by God's people,

some of those reasons are because it points

us to the future hope that awaits us

in communion and union with our God.

Romans chapter 8, assures us of our salvation

Romans 8 · chapter mention

as well, and it also reminds us very

powerfully about

the inseparable love that God has for his

people.

And my prayer this morning is that

all of us would come to understand, come

to a fuller, comprehensive

and exhaustive grasp

of what Roman Romans 8 has to say,

and in particular, verses 1 through 4, and

really the application of it upon

the Christian faith life and practice. I hope

that we come to love and say the

exact same things that Martin Luther and that

pastor said, after we're all done in the

next couple of weeks with Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And so by way of introduction, let us

go ahead and begin,

and step into Romans chapter 8. If you

Romans 8 · chapter mention

are someone who takes notes,

I have an outline for us this morning

and it's threefold. The Christian Promise,

the Christian's Security,

and the Christian's Assurance.

And so beginning with our first heading,

the Christian's Promise. Look with me at verse

1.

Paul writes, there is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are

in

Christ Jesus.

And now there's 5 things that I want

to note for us this morning just in

verse 1. We'll be spending a lot of

our time in verse 1, and then I'll

move fairly quickly through the other 2.

The first thing that I want us to

notice is the word therefore. Very much like

the English word therefore,

Also in the Greek, it's sometimes used to

sort of come to a conclusion in an

argument,

to wrap up sort of the point that

you're making. And and I I make I

wanna bring that point up because Paul is

not using it in

that way. And and we know that because,

well Paul continues to write for another 7

chapters.

Right. So he's not coming to a final

conclusion. He is not wrapping up the book

of Romans.

Rather what Paul is doing, he is actually

making a shift.

He is making a shift to really the

implications and applications of everything that he has

been saying since Roman 1, Romans 1 all

the way to 7, which is that we

are,

sort of distill it down to one point.

What Paul said from Romans 1 through 7

is that, all of man is justified. We

are saved and we stand before our Creator

through faith

in Christ Jesus. And so, what Paul is

doing by that word therefore, he's making a

pivot. He is now shifting to belief

to behavior.

From doctrine

to duty. And I think this really speaks

upon,

something else about the Christian life and that,

the Christian life and Christianity itself is not

simply about just filling our heads with knowledge,

but

also allowing that knowledge to seep into our

heart and out into our hands. We don't

just believe things for the sake of believing,

but we believe it because God has told

us, but we also live it out in

our lives. And this is the reason why

Paul is making this pivot.

The second observation is that, the shift deals

with a present application.

This pivot deals with a present application and

and I just want us to look at

verse 1 again. Paul does not say, there

is therefore a baby. Right? Some sort of

probability.

He also does not say that there is

therefore soon, some sort of event that's out

there in the future. But look at the

text. He says, rather, Paul writes, there is

therefore

now.

This is a present application. This is a

present

implication of the gospel.

Which leads to the third observation, which is,

that this present application deals with the subject

of condemnation.

This word condemnation is not something that we

use in our everyday vernacular.

We might see it on some occasions or

hear the word, but it's not something that

we use every day. And I think it's

important for us to learn what this word

condemnation means,

because it's a biblical word.

Something that Paul uses and there's a concept

behind it that we ought

to understand and it's really foundational

for grasping the gospel.

That Greek word which means condemnation in the

Greek,

means two things. It means the pronouncement of

guilt, first thing. And the second thing that

it means,

is

the adjudication

of punishment. So the pronouncement of guilt and

the adjudication

of punishment. This is what the Greek word

means for condemn.

Today when people use the word condemn, it's

very few situations. It's often used and typically

used only in the sense of a pronouncement

of guilt.

And we see this really played out in

the realm of politics and the media. You'll

see a journalist come up to a politician

and say, you know, mister president, do you

condemn this?

Or

mister senator,

you condemned your colleague for this and this.

Right? And and what you see is that

the journalist is asking this question. He's trying

to get the politician to condemn, make a

pronouncement, to publicly express really,

some sort of complete disapproval.

And it's used in that way in our

society. But there's no really force, some form

of punishment that comes after. It's just a

pronouncement of guilt.

But the place that we do see, both

the pronouncement of guilt and also the adjudication

of, of of the adjudication and punishment of

of of that guilt,

is in the courthouse.

We have our court system. It's working Monday

through Saturday

and

the word condemnation, and especially in the way

in which Paul would use it,

it's fairly acted out in exactly that way

in the court of law.

Today, judges really condemn people by both a

condemnation, a pronouncement and also a punishment.

When the day, the verdict day comes, when

the judgment day comes, if you will, the

defendant or the person who was accused of

a particular charge or crime,

will stand with his lawyer before the judge,

and what the judge will do is read

both the the, you know, what court they're

in. He will read the the the case

number, the charge, and he'll read the verdict

out loud.

And it's at this moment, I think everybody

has seen this, if you've watched TV or

seen videos of a of a judge pronounce,

this, that make the pronouncement of guilt.

And he'll either say 2 things, guilty or

not guilty.

Guilty or not guilty. You'll hear a judge

say something like, We, the jury, in count

1,

the charge of first degree murder, first degree

penalty.

We, the jury, find the defendant,

John Doe,

guilty.

I've seen many videos of the pronouncement of

guilt by a judge upon a defendant,

and the reaction is instant disapproval, if not

anger.

And even in some cases,

the person just collapses

because of the actual

verdict. And typically, when that's the case, it's

because they know what comes next,

which is the adjudication

of the punishment. And you've have you ever

seen, you know, even some videos of when

a a remorse that happens in the family

of the depend of the defendant. The defendant

is very, terrified as well in some cases.

Well, dear friends, when we read our Bible

and we come across the word

condemnation,

a scene in our mind of you really

standing before the throne of God on the

day of judgment,

should really enter your mind.

The Bible speaks of the day of judge

judgment very clearly, from the old testament all

the way to the new testament very consistently.

And it's a reality. And I would say

it's all of our realities.

Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 14 says, God will

Ecclesiastes 12:14

bring every deed into judgment with every secret

thing, whether good or evil.

Jesus speaks about it. He says, I tell

you, on the day of judgment, people will

give an account

for every careless

word they speak.

Once again, this is a future reality for

all man mankind. It's something the Bible

speaks about.

And with that being said, I wanna ask

everybody here,

how will you stand before God on judgment

day?

Have you considered that?

What will you tell him?

Or in fact, I think the more important

question is, what will he tell you

on that day?

Middle schoolers and high schoolers,

I think we need to think about this

question as well.

There's no

age requirement to enter or to stand and

before the throne of God on the day

of judgment.

Everybody will stand

before

him. And dear church, the question about your

standing before God is really the most important

question that you could ever ask, and it's

also the most important question that you could

ever pursue to answer. Because it very much

is the difference between life and death.

But I want to submit to us, looking

back at verse 1, that really the answer

is found in verse 1.

You don't have to look far.

Look with me again at verse 1, leads

to my 4th observation.

And that is that the Day of Judgment

has already been announced for some.

Let's look at the text again. Paul writes,

There is therefore now

no condemnation

for those who are in Christ.

And what Paul is saying is that God's

verdict, the verdict that awaits all of us

on the day of judgment,

has already been announced for some.

In other words, there are some people that

already know their standing before God,

before they ever entered into his court,

for the day of verdict.

It's like it's been moved up. They already

know.

This is the observation. It is now. It

is present. The Lord has already made his

pronouncement.

And this is the verdict.

No condemnation.

And lastly, the other thing, last thing we

wanna notice about verse 1, is who exactly

are these people?

Paul does not say that there are, is

therefore

no condemnation

for the Jews or no, therefore now, no

condemnation for the Gentiles or therefore now, no

condemnation for those who go to church or

who participate in social justice.

Paul also doesn't say that there is therefore

now, no condemnation

for me

or for the Romans.

In fact, he mentioned something that's very important

for us because

the small preposition in this great noun,

transcends

space and time, Old Testament and New Testament.

Any any region,

but rather a people that are found in

God himself.

The small preposition

in

and this noun,

which is Christ Jesus appears over a 160

times in the New Testament.

These people who are not condemned are those

people that are in Christ.

And the phrase is shorthand to describe really

the chief blessing of the Christian life, which

is union

with Christ.

The narrowest

description, or rather, is the narrowest description of

what a Christian is. A Christian is not

so much one that follows Christ, but rather,

more specifically, one that is found in Christ.

In Christ is intended to remind us, to

communicate to us,

that everybody who believes in Christ for salvation,

that they are spiritually

and mystically,

yet separately

and really,

inseparably and really join to our savior.

We're really united with him and the Bible

talks about this in multiple places.

John chapter 15, Jesus teaches that he is

John 15 · chapter mention

the vine and his people are the branches.

Union.

In 1st Corinthians chapter 12, Paul says that,

Christ is the head and we are the

body.

Union.

Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

2. Paul teaches that Christ is the cornerstone

and we are the stones that are built

upon him. Once again, union. Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Christ is the bridegroom

and his church, his people are his bride.

Union.

But I think one of the most powerful

evidences

of union with Christ, at least that I've

observed in the New Testament, is actually found

in Acts chapter 9,

Acts 9 · chapter mention

where the Apostle Paul, the one who's writing

this exact letter is heading over to Damascus

to persecute Christians to imprison them.

And the Christ, the the Jesus, has already

ascended to the right hand of the father.

He is in heaven,

and he has an encounter with the risen

Lord.

And Paul is blinded,

and he has no idea what is going

on. And but the words that he does

here is, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute

me?

You see, dear Christians, the the the the

body of Christ is

one with Christ, is united with Christ, and

the reason why Christ could say, Saul, Saul,

why do you persecute me? Is because we

are united to him.

To persecute the church is to persecute

Christ because we are one spirit with him.

This is union with Christ. And so,

all that being said for verse 1,

church meant many of us can have said

or we do say that Christ is with

me.

We say that Christ is behind me. We

say that

Christ is before me and we'll even say

that Christ is above me, that he's ruling

and reigning. But but can you say

that I am in Christ?

That I am in my savior.

This is really important

and I ask this question because so long

as you remain in Adam, as

Paul has said, and so long as you

remain separated from Christ,

all that he is and all that he

has endured, all that he has suffered,

his life, his death, his resurrection and ascension,

is useless and of no value to you.

Or to me.

Unless a man be in Christ,

he cannot celebrate that there is therefore now

no condemnation.

There is therefore now no condemnation.

This text is one that ought to be

committed to memory as well for the Christian.

The reason is because we're prone to wander.

We're prone to leave the God we love.

We're prone to

doubt his faithfulness, especially in the midst of

circumstances.

We are prone to question his

faithfulness, God's faithfulness,

and is in those times where really sometimes

we might begin to think that we have

fallen out of favor with the Lord.

But this is a promise from God. There

is therefore now no condemnation.

It is what he has said and is

done, and it is finished. And it is

one of the main reasons why later why

later in Romans chapter 8,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Paul could say, for I am sure that

neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,

nor things present, nor things to come, nor

powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor anything else

in all creation

will be able to separate us from the

love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Dear Christian, for those who are in Christ,

there is no condemnation.

And praise be to God for that.

We now move on to our second heading,

the Christian security,

and let's go ahead and read,

verse 2. And it reads,

for the spirit of life has set you

free from the law

of sin

and death. And there is quite a lot

to say about this verse, but the one

thing I will mention is really that Greek

verb that is that is has set you

free. This Greek verb

does not indicate something that happened in the

past, although it does, but also means something

more.

What it means is that,

this event is something that can't be undone.

He has set you free. You could almost

see as verse 1, Paul is teaching about

the Christian's present standing before God. And in

verse 2, by this verb, he's really making

it clear that this is an eternal standing

before the creator of the universe.

No condemnation.

And the person that applies this eternal security

is called the Spirit of life.

Later, we know that this is the Holy

Spirit. We know that because later in Romans,

it Paul makes it abundantly clear. You could

also say that Romans chapter 8 is a

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter about the Holy Spirit. He is,

really,

fixed and focused upon

in this chapter.

But not only do we know that because

He appears in Romans chapter 8 and that

Romans 8 · chapter mention

clarifies it for us. But also we know

that it's the Holy Spirit because the Holy

Spirit is the only power

that can give

physical and spiritual life.

Is also the only

means by which

one could be liberated from the power of

sin and death.

We see the Holy Spirit's work all throughout

scripture.

In in terms of how the Holy Spirit

brings life, the first thing that we could

think of is Genesis 1.

The Spirit of God hovered upon the face

of the earth. And what does the Holy

Spirit do? What does our triune God do?

He brings that which is nothing

into existence.

All of creation,

all of life,

by the power of His word.

And he's the in the book of Ezekiel,

we see there's a valley of dry bones

and it's the Spirit of God

that restores and resurrects and brings life into

these bones.

In Matthew 1, the Holy Spirit brings

life through the miracle

of the virgin birth.

The empty womb,

the Holy Spirit, it says, conceived

Christ, and it was by the Holy Spirit.

And even in the Nicene Creed that we

confess this morning, what do we say what

we believe about the Holy Spirit? I believe

the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and the giver

of life.

That's something that we affirm. This Spirit of

life is the Holy Spirit. We also see

all throughout the scriptures how the Holy Spirit

conquers sin and death.

The Holy Spirit empowers the prophets, empowers the

judges to defeat the enemies of God's people

in the Old Testament, empowers

some of the prophets and the judges.

Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit,

also heals the mute, the deaf and the

blind.

Leprosy, which was very prominent in the Gospels.

People had, it was an infection that,

was, that really affected all the crevices of

your body. Inside your ears,

on your eyes,

It was something that that made you an

outcast in society,

made you unable to participate not only with

the people of God, but,

made you think also that somehow, some way

that you were separated from Him. And what

does Christ do by the power of the

Holy Spirit? When he comes, he heals the

leper. And that there is a is a

really almost it is a symbol, the way

in which the Holy Spirit is restoring things

and making things new. He is conquering sin.

Leprosy is the effect of the fall.

And in terms of death, we celebrated last

week the resurrection.

Christ was raised by the power of the

Holy Spirit.

So here we see that the Holy Spirit

is the liberator. He is,

our protector. He is the one that preserves

the Christian. And so

this is really the Christian security here.

We are

saved eternally.

The pronouncement of no condemnation

is no more upon the Christian. The Holy

Spirit is our liberator. He is our protector.

He is the one that preserves us. And,

today,

there is quite

an awareness

of bullying in our country. And I've been

asked many times, Julio, have you ever been

bullied before?

And to which my answer has always been

the same, no. Besides,

you know, your ordinary teasing and besides your,

you know, taunting, I I was I was

never bullied at school.

And it wasn't really till later where sort

of understood why

that was

the case.

And, it definitely was not because of my

size. It definitely wasn't because of my strength.

If you were to see pictures of me

as a child, I was skinny. I was

scrawny. I was quiet. And I would even

argue that I was probably the perfect target

for a bully, but no bully ever came.

And one of the reasons why was because

my cousin,

who was a grade above us, was right

down the hallway.

And he was not a bully, but he

definitely was intimidated.

He did not have a reputation of being

mean, but he definitely was somebody who you

did not want to mess with physically. People

did not want to deal with him,

and deal with that issue, and mainly because

they couldn't.

Older Christians in a similar way, if we

are united to Christ,

and if the Holy Spirit is the one

who has liberty liberated us, the one who

is our comfort, the one who is our

helper,

who can condemn us?

Who could reverse this condemnation

that the creator of the universe has spoken

upon those who are in Christ?

Who can separate us from Christ as well?

What can reverse this new birth? And the

answer is,

nobody. That is the Christian security. That not

only that we're in Christ, but we also

are liberated and freed by the power of

the Holy Spirit. And later, Paul will get

into, the subject that the Holy Spirit actually

indwells

us.

Dear Christian, always remember that we live in

a world that is passing away and everything

that once seemed

strong,

intimidating will become unsure,

will become weak.

So long as we're in Christ,

we are secure.

We are assured of our salvation because

Jesus Christ is the same today, tomorrow and

forever.

If you are in Christ and freed from

the law of sin and death by the

Holy Spirit, you have an assurance,

a security,

a comfort,

a safety the world cannot offer.

Do we believe this?

Now moving to our 3rd heading. Now move

to,

the Christian's confidence.

Read with me verses 3 through 4.

Paul writes, 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

requirements of the law might be fulfilled in

us,

who walk not according to the flesh, but

according to the spirit.

The first thing I want us to to

notice is the first four words that that

God that that Paul uses.

And it is that, for God has done.

For God has done.

Your Christian here

is a reminder that the Christians assurance and

security

does not rest upon what we have done,

but what God has done.

Salvation,

us being in Christ,

our liberation by the Holy Spirit is not

a work of us, but is a work

of the Holy or the Holy Spirit, the

work of the triune God thoroughly.

We also learned something about the character of

God as well. In that,

our God is not someone who is idle.

He's not someone that is inactive. He is

not somebody who is passive, but he is

one that actually operates. He works

to save his people. He knew that we

were weak, that we were mortal, that we

were frail, that we were unable to fulfill

the requirements of the law for eternal life.

He also knew that the law had no

power to to to stir us,

to obey him.

So rather the law

condemned us.

Paul's first word really Paul Paul's first word

should really be the pillow upon

we in upon which we rest our head

for what God has done.

Not what we have done.

And so what did God do? Well, Paul

says that what God did

will send his was to send his son

in the likeness of sinful flesh, in the

likeness of sinful flesh. And here we have

the doctrine of the incarnation.

The likeness

is the this Greek word likeness is is

is another word for resemble. This this word

here really leaves leaves no room or allows,

for the interpretation. There was sin in Christ.

I was telling the, students this morning in

Sunday school,

we're going through Genesis and we are we're

discussing that we are created in the image

of God, likeness of God. And I said,

this likeness is is a resemblance, just like

we you guys resemble

y'all's parents, so also

do do humanity,

this man,

is created in the likeness and the image

of God.

And and here we see that Christ was

incarnate in the likeness or the resemblance of

flesh.

But notice why God

sent his son in the likeness of flesh.

Paul writes, by sending his own son in

the likeness of sinful flesh

and for sin.

For sin.

God sent his only son

for sin. Now this Greek word too, for

sin is the same word that's used in

the old testament,

in the Greek translation of the old testament

of the Torah,

for the, for the for the for the

sacrifices, for the sin offerings, for the atonement

of sin.

And therefore, God sent his only son to

be a sacrifice to redeem

his people, to atone for sin.

And when Paul says, God condemned sin

in Christ's flesh, what that means is that

God's adjudication

of punishment

that you and I deserved was poured out

upon

Christ's flesh.

That that which condemned us sin

was condemned in Christ's flesh. That he bore

our sins.

Paul also says, that that was done in

order that the righteous requirements of the law

might be fulfilled.

And see, it's not simply, the gospel is

not simply that

that Christ

died for our sins and that he satisfied

the wrath of God and that our sins

were removed by his his blood,

but it's also that he lived the life

that we could not live.

Not only

by Christ's sacrifice

is God's wrath satisfied and our tones that

are sinful, but his life

is credited to us by union with him.

By union with him. Put another way, God

treated his son

like he lived your life so that he

could treat you as though you lived the

life of his son.

That's what it was all for.

Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse

21.

It really gets out really what what Paul

is saying here in Romans, but in 2nd

Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, Paul says,

for our sake, he being God,

made him, that's Christ,

to be sin who knew no sin so

that in him, that's in Christ, once again,

we might become the righteousness of God.

So dear Christians, not only do we have

and live and breathe and walk in this

life free

and liberated from sin and death by the

power of the Holy Spirit, we're you we're

also united to Christ. We're also credited with

his righteousness by union with him. We are

so secure.

We are so assured of our salvation. And

this is what really what Paul is trying

to get at.

In the 1800,

a game of French origin was played in

which if someone wanted to find out

the extent of an individual's affections for them,

what they would do is

go up to an Oxford Daisy,

which was a very pretty Daisy. And it

had, you know, a lot of white petals

around it, and and it had a bright,

really beautiful

yellow, carpel in it. And they would pick

up this flower, and they would begin just

to pick off the petals.

The one thing that this game would repeat,

in order as they were picking off the

petals, was

a little,

a lot,

passionately,

to madness,

or not at all.

It would repeat that phrase until it got

to the last petal. And that last petal,

whichever it landed on, that supposedly was

the verdict upon which the person's extent had

for you.

Today, many of us might know that game

and it goes a little different. The he

loves me, loves me not, she loves me

or she loves me not.

At least I remember doing that. I remember

my parents discussing

that game.

And I bring that up because dear Christian,

because of what God has done for us,

we never have to play those sorts of

games.

Never.

We know

for certain that our salvation is secure simply

by looking upon the cross of Christ.

Looking at the cross of Christ,

every Christian can say with confidence, all my

sin is paid for.

Looking at the cross of Christ, every Christian

can say with confidence,

there is

nothing that could separate me from the love

of God.

Looking at the cross of Christ, every Christian

could say with confidence,

there is therefore now no condemnation.

Let us pray.