No Condemnation in Christ: The Confidence Every Christian Needs | Romans 8:1-11

It's out of the book of Isaiah, chapter 59, and in verse 1, that we read the following.

Isaiah 59 · chapter mention

The Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor is ear dull that it cannot hear.

But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.

And your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

God's admonition like this is over and over.

Scriptures are not filled just with the news like we've been singing about.

How good God has been to us all our life.

That's very true, but your iniquities have separated you from my goodness.

Through Peter in Acts chapter 3, we read, Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Quoting from Psalm 51 and Isaiah 43 and Isaiah 44, that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

God loves having a relationship with his creation.

Maybe you feel that it is impossible to live a life that is free from sin so that relationship can flourish.

I will tell you this morning that thankfully, praise God, he disagrees with that comment.

God disagrees with that thought that your sin can separate you from him permanently.

Today, Paul teaches us the secret to sin-free living 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You want to know the secret to that?

I don't know about you, but just saying that makes me want to delve into today's lesson, today's study.

It is a desire of every Christian to live sin free every day of their life.

So we'll look at that a little bit this morning.

I invite you to turn with me to Romans 7.

We've got to start there.

I know that is cliche.

Well, we have to start before our text for today, but it really is true in order to get the sense of what chapter 8 is going to describe to us and why chapter 8 is even there and what it should mean to us.

That's going to be our main focus this morning.

But it really begins in chapter 7 and really only as a reminder, because if you've been able to be in the lessons uh preceding this out of the book of Romans and in the series here of Romans, uh, then you'll know chapter 7 uh really drives a nail home about where we stand with our God in sin.

When we have lived the life of sin, where that where that places us.

But chapter 8 begins a new section of the book.

And it begins to speak about practicality of what faith should look like in a person's life.

What that means in our relationship to God ultimately.

This is going to be page number 1122.

If you're using the church Bible, I invite you to turn over there.

Uh if you if you're not accustomed to using the Bible during God's worship service, I want you to change that.

Even if you're a member here, and if you're a member here, shame on you.

You pick up that Bible and use that Bible.

But but I mean, and I understand there are exceptions.

I know babies and so on get in the way.

But but I'm saying if you can use that Bible, pick it up.

If you're a guest with us, you'll be glad that you did if you'll pick it up and use it when we go through today's lesson.

Our day, our studies are normally textual, and today is no exception to that.

So you can you can look at what God is saying while we're talking about it.

That really adds to the the uh the penetration of what God says into our heart.

So I invite you to do that.

So good to see everybody here this morning.

If you are a guest with us, we're really happy that you're here and want you to know you're always welcome here among God's people.

If you're traveling and just passing through, we we pray God's safety on you while you're uh while you're on vacation time.

Notice verse 15 of our text of Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

Before we get into Romans chapter 8, I think it will be of benefit for us to look at this briefly.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

We're not the only ones who become frustrated with our struggle against sin.

It's admirable that we want to live sin free.

That's actually a good thing that God wants in our life.

But notice the struggle that Paul talks about here.

For I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very things that I hate.

Verse 18.

For you know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, for I I desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

For I do not do the things I want to do, but the evil that I do not want is what I keep on doing.

And in verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

I say to you, brothers and sisters, no matter how hard we try, we do not live a life without the ongoing battle against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit.

That battle is common to us on a daily basis, maybe.

Even the most mature Christian alone will fall against our adversary and his devices.

Satan is stronger than the strongest of Christians.

We have to have some other power at work in us.

We struggle the way that Paul describes here.

And even the most faithful can do no more to purify or justify themselves before God after their salvation as they could before their salvation.

We don't somehow become super men and women, spiritually speaking, once we become a Christian, that we're now on our own we stand before God and we resist all sin and we live the perfect life that God wanted us to live.

I wish that that were true, don't you?

I do wish that.

We all know that's just not the way it works.

As Paul teaches, only God can purify the soul.

And we all need grace and mercy from our Almighty.

Through Jesus Christ, Paul says, our Lord.

But did you miss the greatest realization in the text?

I only say that what I've pointed out is not the greatest realization because we've actually already discussed that previously in our studies together.

The next thing that says that Paul says, however, is really the point to all of it.

What is that?

If you are a Christian, God does not condemn you in your sin.

He says in verse 25, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Only through him are we made sin free in the sight of God.

But that brings up another question that is difficult to answer without the instructions from Paul, without the guidance of God.

And that question is simply the question how is that the case?

And Paul deals with that here in chapter 8.

But more than that, he also is helping us when it comes to the unshakable confidence in our salvation.

And don't miss this point that every single one of us should have.

So let's read it together.

Begin in chapter 8, verse 1.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We read that, but I want to read it again because I want to ask you a question.

Is there anything better that you ever heard in your whole life than that?

I mean, really.

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, by our inability to keep the rules, could not do.

The law was not imperfect.

The people keeping the law were imperfect.

And that caused a separation between God and oneself.

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.

For those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their mind on the things of the spirit.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind can uh is set on the flesh is hostile to God.

It does not submit to God's law.

Indeed, it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

That is such an encouraging text.

I know it deals with some pretty negative things, but with every negative thing, there's a positive outcome to all of this that Paul writes.

You might remember earlier in Romans that Paul has finished a convicting prosecution against sin.

In fact, he has spent the better part of the first seven chapters confirming our hopelessness without Christ.

And he's done such a convincing job of that, but that by the time he comes here to chapter seven of our text, it may seem difficult to actually accept what chapter eight is talking about.

I would suggest to you that you better think through it because it's everything to the Christian.

The first part of the book convicts us.

First part of the book condemns us.

In fact, you enter the first part of the book and just the first three chapters, you learn that there's not one person, not what not one person guilty, uh not guilty of sin.

Not one.

All have sinned and fall and fall short.

Not one.

And he's done such a convicting job of that, and we relate so well to that fact in our own personal living.

The chapter 8 almost seems just too good to be true.

We've read it together and still.

Now, if Paul has done his job, we're probably going to answer to that.

Well, I I'm not exactly sure because sin, like Paul has talked about, has absolutely dominated me.

But I want you to notice that's not where Paul intends to leave us.

Better way to say that is it's not where God intends to leave us, as he teaches through Paul.

Have the question in your mind this morning.

Are you absolutely certain of your eternal future?

Are you absolutely certain?

It may be that we're thinking to ourselves, not a whole lot, as I just described.

We may be saying, well, I'm pretty certain.

And I think Paul shows us God wants more for us than that.

We can't lack faith, brothers and sisters, in God's promises and still be confident in those promises.

Those things are negatives to one another.

Look again at verse one of your text, and let's kind of break down some of what Paul is teaching to us this morning.

Don't miss this point.

Paul is making the case for our confidence in Christ, and he gives several reasons of why we should have it, and how every Christian really must have it in order for their faith to be what God designs it to be.

No one should leave chapter 8 without knowing your future for certain.

Do you know where you're headed in eternity?

You should.

And the reason you should is because of what Paul talks about in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

It's a grand chapter, it's a pinnacle chapter.

So take some thought of it.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Paul says that this is the guilt-free state Christians get to live in.

But how do they do it?

I want you to notice the pre-qualification.

There is no condemnation for who?

That's a great question to ask.

For who?

Underline it, highlight it in your text.

Those who are in Christ Jesus.

That changes the entire question, doesn't it?

So I ask you the question: Are you in Christ Jesus?

For the sake of those who may not have been here for the study in chapter six, or maybe just simply as a good cross-reference to those who were and need to make cross-reference in your text, go over to chapter six.

Let's do that.

Let's read from chapter six together.

We need to go back there in order to be able to properly answer the question.

Whether you're a Christian or not a Christian, this is the answer to that to that question.

You can confidently answer the question.

Do you know with certainty where you will spend your future?

If we're in Christ Jesus, we do, Paul says.

How do I get into Christ Jesus?

Romans chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Paul says, all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.

We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

That's pretty clear.

I don't know how a person can miss it.

He talks about being in Jesus, and that is happening upon a person's baptism.

What God is doing is killing the old death and resurrection into newness of life.

But Paul makes it even more simple in our study in the adult level classes that we're doing on Sunday morning and Wednesday night.

We're looking at Galatians.

I want you to turn over Galatians chapter 3, verse 27.

Galatians 3:27

Galatians 3, verse 27.

Galatians 3:27

It is a text that should be cross-referenced with Galatians 6 in your text.

If you haven't done that already, you need to do that in order to help people understand it better as well as yourself.

Galatians 3, verse 27.

Galatians 3:27

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have what?

Put on Christ.

That's even more simplistic, isn't it?

We can't miss that point.

In God's sight, baptism clearly dictates whether one has allowed him to dress them in their sacrifice, Jesus.

That's pretty clear.

We're either in Jesus or we.

No question about it.

Notice verse 2.

He's not done.

So we're not done.

Verse 2.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

That means a lot to us, doesn't it?

It should.

When we realize God's demands about sin.

I want you to think about those demands that God places on sin.

You should have had another chart in there that sin deserves death.

And that that really is the essence of what condemns us, isn't it?

Sin condemns us.

And in chapter 8, there's there's close to a dozen times that we read that.

I'm sorry, in chapters 1 through 8, there's a dozen times where we see that over and over again.

Sin condemns a person to death.

That's what it demands.

Here, Paul teaches the law of sin, the law of the spirit of life, has set us free from that law of sin and death.

The death of our king, brothers and sisters, it fulfilled the demands of God's law, Paul is teaching.

He has the power in himself to bring us along with him, to cancel out the sin and the debt.

To institute his death on our behalf.

Like if he can do that, he can do what he's saying here, right?

And therefore, we see in verse 3 of our text there.

By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, he condemns sin in the flesh.

That's a turn of events that we're reading about there, isn't it?

Sin condemned us to death, but God condemns sin to death through Jesus.

In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled for us.

Who walk, whose manner of life is not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

The word walk there, as I emphasize, it is present active in the in the Greek text.

In other words, it that means it's ongoing.

It is now, but it but it continues.

It's a progression or a process that reaches into the future.

And likewise, the word according to literally means though we may fail, we are intent on doing good things that come from God.

It's almost like there's a shift now that's taking place.

We've learned about what sin does to us.

We've learned about how grace is absolutely necessary, and without it, you're dead in the water.

There's nothing in the world that you can do to deserve God's attention and salvation.

But now we're learning about how faith looks.

We're saved by grace through what?

Faith.

So I better know what faith looks like.

And here he's describing that very thing to us.

We have an intent, a desire on doing the things that come from God.

And so Paul teaches in verses 6 through 9 of our text.

To set, to direct with purpose.

The mind on the flesh is death.

But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

Which one sounds better to you?

I mean, like he's he's actually setting that up for us, isn't he?

He's setting that up.

Here is what one thing results in.

Here is what another thing results in.

Which way will you walk?

Will you walk with faith?

It will end in life and peace.

I'll say to you, my friend, if you know you're living with the mind that is set on the flesh, and you're preferring that, just letting sin simply take over your heart and your life, you need to hear what Paul's teaching.

You keep living that way, and you will never have life and peace in your faith, in your religion.

Never.

Those things stand opposed to the things of God.

But if you walk by the Spirit, he's saying we can have both of those things.

The only source of true life and peace, the only way to have confidence in our Christian walk is to make necessary adjustments when we see our lifestyle is beginning to look more like living in this world, living with the world, in the world, of the world, and its dark choices, rather than living for the things of the Spirit, the things that show our allegiance, our faith, our belief in God.

Paul's already proven it's not a matter of saving ourselves.

Don't misunderstand.

We're past that point.

We've moved on to the rubber meets the road part of the book, which says if you really do believe grace and you really do believe God through faith, this is what it should do in your life.

This is how it should look.

This is your response to it all.

I want to listen to the word of God intently and walk with him who has saved me through Christ.

That's my gift back to God for his gift to me.

To live for him like he has lived and lives to make intercession for me.

I would encourage you, don't leave this place without asking God to change that sin-determined commitment that has existed in us all, to soften your heart, to ask God to change your mindset.

In fact, verse 7 tells us that the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.

That word means aggressively, actively against him.

For it does not submit to God's law.

And what law is that?

Cross-reference it up.

Put a verse 2 beside your verse 7 in your text.

The law of the spirit of life, which has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

A person becomes hostile toward God's goodness because they do not submit to that law that God wants to implement to set you free.

The mind is hostile to God, will not submit to the better of these two laws.

In fact, he says, indeed, it cannot, because it has the wrong heart set.

Why?

Someone who is purposeful in their love for sin and lifestyle in it will never be able to please God.

Verse 8, he says, we're in that person's in the flesh and cannot please God.

What does it mean?

It means God cares about what we want, brothers and sisters.

That's what that means.

God doesn't do all of this and just say, Well, whatever you do, whatever you think, I really don't care.

He actually does care what we think, he cares what's going on inside of our heart.

And he's not looking for our perfection in all of that outside of Jesus Christ.

He's looking for our heart inside of Jesus Christ.

And that should cause us to now turn and think positively in our walk with Christ, which is what Paul talks about next.

Look at verse 9.

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, which is another gift from God, by the way, if you think about it.

And it gives us confidence in our salvation.

You're not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

In fact, the spirit of God, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you.

And we've already learned the Spirit of God does dwell in us when we believe God, when we put forth that faith about his promises in our baptism, taking us from existing in sin to now existing in Christ, who frees us from that sin.

And when we care about being spirit-led by Him.

God wants us to want what He wants.

And brothers and sisters, that's totally different from the Christian who says the only reason I'm a Christian is because I don't want to go to hell.

That may be a good motivating factor at first.

But I want to tell you what Paul is teaching here should grow us out of that childlike mindset.

Into the mindset that finds love the motivating factor.

And a desire to want to be who God has created us to be.

To want to live in the spirit.

I'm lost.

Paul is teaching us a doctrine that penetrates far beyond that immature way of thinking.

And it looks forward to having a real relationship with God because we are thankful to our God for his rescue.

And so Paul says, be spirit-led, not fleshly led.

Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him, he says in verse 9.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

That may seem a bit confusing at first, but think about what he's trying to teach.

Since we are not eternally redeemed yet, we're in the flesh, and that flesh is going to die.

And do you know why it's going to die?

Because it's flesh.

Condemned by sin.

But in the spirit is life because of Christ's righteousness.

Verse 11 if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

Did you catch all the stuff that's going on there at the tail end of that?

Three times he talks about in you.

In you.

In you.

What's in us?

Well, the spirit of Christ is in us.

The spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead, that's the Father.

And the Spirit Himself.

All dwelling in us, he says.

How great is that, ladies and gentlemen?

How great is that?

What do you have standing against you?

Sin condemns you to death.

It can dwell in you if you want it to.

If you persist in that way of life, if that's your pursuit in life.

Or the alternative is, if we could just say it in a short way, God dwells in us.

God who?

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all dwell within the Christian.

Isn't that what he's teaching right there in that text for you?

The Bible actually tells us there's only five entities that can dwell in a human.

And it's personified, of course, sin is.

But sin is one of those.

But then the other four of these five are actually for us.

And they're actually working to bring us together in harmony with our Creator.

I like the odds, don't you?

Of course, we know there's not really any odds because that would entail win and lose.

God's not going to lose.

But it does point out to us there's a matter of choice at hand.

It is an awesome passage for those who put their trust in him.

That when God is for us, as the Bible teaches us, who or what can succeed against us?

Nothing can overpower these three.

Nothing.

And the only way we choose to live without them is by giving our life over to sin.

Sin can separate us from God, but God has done everything to make it easy for us to walk away from sin and to walk with Him.

We close this morning.

I've got two repeated questions I want you to ponder.

One, are you confident in your salvation?

If you believe what the Apostle Paul is taught this morning and what we read in other places of the Bible, the answer is yes, I believe.

Without a doubt.

And if it's not, then the second question, it can only be because you're not in Christ.

You need to be in Christ.

Then you can confidently answer yes.

I know where I'm going.

I know what my uh eternity will be.

I mean, we may not know what heaven is going to be like exactly, but we know where we're going.

We know we're going to be there.

Without a doubt, in absolute and complete confidence.

I want to say to you, if you haven't already, why don't you stop putting your trust in yourself?

Even if you're a Christian, you need to stop putting your trust in yourself.

Start putting your trust in God, who keeps you, who you're walking with.

Start looking to Him more than looking to yourself.

Start thinking of His goodness rather than your own goodness and self-righteousness.

Put those things away.

Walk with God because that is what Paul is talking about in our text today.

We miss the whole point if we miss that.

Are you in Christ?

Maybe you are, but you've not been walking right.

Maybe you need to rethink who you want to live with.

Or maybe it is that you have yet to become a Christian.

Stop putting trust in yourself.

It's only going to lend itself to more guilt, the lack of peace, the absence of true life in that way.

Instead, put your trust in him today and in his sacrifice and his promises.

And I promise you this: when you do that, it'll change your life.

It'll change your destination.

It'll change your eternity.

If you need to respond to his will this morning, he promises in baptism.

He can put you into Christ.

He'll do that.

He says he'll do that.

He will do that.

And in there, there is no condemnation for those who are in him, who walk with him.

Freed from sin, freed from guilt, freed from eternal destruction.

And if you need to respond to that message today, I hope you'll do that this morning by coming forward or talking to us more afterward.

While together we stand as we sing.