Latest / Providence Baptist Church - Sermons / Romans 8:1-2
Transcript
- 0:00This morning's Bible study text is Romans chapter 8 verses 1 and 2, so please join us there as we turn our attention to the study of God's word.
- 0:09Before we study this text, I want to remind you of two things.
- 0:13First, our teaching on Sundays has been working in concord with CFC's Bible reading plan.
- 0:20And we're doing this for two reasons.
- 0:23First, we want you to see the connectivity of the text, right?
- 0:27We are believing that the beauty of the scripture will come alive to you across the year and that you will have a greater grasp of its narrative arc as we do this together.
- 0:38Secondly, we want you to read your Bible.
- 0:41We want this to promote Bible reading, to want to fill in the gaps in between the teaching you're receiving.
- 0:49I learned this week that only 3% of professing American Christians have ever read through the entire Bible.
- 0:55And we want to encourage us reading through the Bible as many times as we possibly can.
- 1:01Certainly a wonderful goal is reading through the entirety of it each and every year.
- 1:06And all you have to do to accomplish this is read three chapters a day.
- 1:11That's all it takes to read through the entire Bible in the year.
- 1:14And this takes no more than 10 to 15 minutes each day.
- 1:19The average college student, which I know fewer and fewer of us are college students, so this stat becomes less relevant.
- 1:27But the average college student spends two and a half hours a day on social media.
- 1:33I don't know what the average is for each one of us.
- 1:36But if you took two and a half hours a day and applied it to Bible reading, you could read the Bible eight and a half times a year.
- 1:44The entire Bible eight and a half times in a year.
- 1:47Which just shows that at the very least we could say college students have time to read the Bible.
- 1:53And if we just pared that down in some measure, we certainly could say the same for each of us.
- 1:58We have the time to read through the scripture and to do so in large amounts.
- 2:04And I would think you will find that your life would be extremely enriched by this practice.
- 2:08So we're hoping to promote that.
- 2:10Second thing I want to remind you of is that the teaching this morning will be brief by design so that you can take time with the discussion questions,
- 2:18whether you're by yourself or meeting together with a group.
- 2:22So Romans chapter eight, verse one and two.
- 2:26There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- 2:32For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
- 2:40Now, as I was looking to what text to teach on today and pulling from the scripture reading from this past week,
- 2:48I was a bit grieved that we covered all of the book of Romans in this past week's scripture reading.
- 2:54It was concluded today, which meant I only got to pick one teaching time from all of the book of Romans,
- 3:01which was not a terribly easy thing to do.
- 3:05But I settled on these two verses because these two verses have most ministered to me from the book of Romans.
- 3:13So I hope that they'll be of good benefit to you as well.
- 3:16And we're just going to simply look at them in the order that they were written.
- 3:20So verse one and then verse two.
- 3:23So we see the very beginning of verse one.
- 3:26Paul writes, there is there for now.
- 3:30This is a direct reference back to Romans chapter seven, verses 21 through 25, where he wrote,
- 3:37So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
- 3:43If I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind
- 3:50and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
- 3:55Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?
- 4:00Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
- 4:03So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
- 4:10And then he immediately, remember the chapters are not inspired, says,
- 4:14There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- 4:19So it's a direct reference back to the end of chapter seven.
- 4:23But also, I believe, indirectly referencing back to the entire letter up to this point.
- 4:28So just a few reminders from Romans chapter one, verse 16 and 17.
- 4:35Paul said,
- 4:35So he begins really early building this case that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
- 5:00In chapter two, verses 12 and 13.
- 5:04For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.
- 5:08And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
- 5:12For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
- 5:18And then he works out in chapters three, four, and five, that the law is kept by faith in Jesus's perfect law keeping.
- 5:29So Jesus was perfectly righteous, and therefore by faith in him we have his righteousness.
- 5:35Chapter five and verse one.
- 5:38Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 5:46Right?
- 5:47So because of the faith in Christ, having been justified by him, through him, we have peace with God.
- 5:55And then chapter six and verse six.
- 5:58We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing,
- 6:05so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
- 6:09So having been justified by faith and having peace with God, having the righteousness of Christ, we've been set free from sin.
- 6:18We're no longer enslaved to sin.
- 6:20It's not a master over us any longer.
- 6:22And yet, Paul tells us at the end of chapter seven that we still struggle with sin.
- 6:29That this is a normal part of the Christian life, that we are still battling against our flesh.
- 6:35But then he says at the beginning of chapter eight, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- 6:45Right?
- 6:46Even as we struggle in this state of the what is and what is yet to be.
- 6:52Right?
- 6:52We've been set free from sin, and yet we still sin.
- 6:57Wretched man that I am.
- 6:59Right?
- 6:59Why do I go on sinning even though I've been set free from sinning?
- 7:02Who will deliver me from this body of death?
- 7:06Right?
- 7:06And he comes along with this beautiful encouragement for us at the beginning of chapter eight.
- 7:12He says there's no condemnation.
- 7:15And the Greek word here used for no is oudes.
- 7:20And it's an emphatic negative adjective relating to time.
- 7:24It carries the idea of a complete end.
- 7:28Right?
- 7:28So there's no condemnation absolutely, you could think in those terms.
- 7:34Not now and not ever.
- 7:37And the term katachryma, katachryma, condemnation, is only found in the book of Romans here and in chapter five, verses 16 and 18.
- 7:47And it relates to the sentencing of a crime.
- 7:50But focuses not on the verdict, but on the penalty the verdict demands.
- 7:56Right?
- 7:56So there's no penalty.
- 8:00Right?
- 8:01Even though we once were sinners.
- 8:04Right?
- 8:04We've been now declared righteous.
- 8:06And the penalty that the verdict demands has been dismissed.
- 8:12Paul wrote in Romans chapter six, verse 23, for the wages of sin is death.
- 8:17Right?
- 8:17There's the penalty for the verdict.
- 8:19But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
- 8:24Now, for those not in Christ, those who have not placed their faith in him, trusted in his righteousness to have peace with God, their condemnation presses down on them.
- 8:37If we are in Christ, we are free from condemnation.
- 8:40But if you're not in Christ, condemnation presses down on you.
- 8:46I'd like to read to you a fairly long quotation.
- 8:50I'll do my best to read it well.
- 8:51This is an excerpt from Jonathan Edwards' famous speech, speech, sermon.
- 8:57We'll call it a sermon.
- 8:58Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
- 9:01He delivered this sermon in 1741.
- 9:05Listen carefully to its words, particularly if you've not trusted in Christ.
- 9:10There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God.
- 9:16There is hell's wide, gaping mouth open.
- 9:20And you have nothing to stand upon, nor anything to take hold of.
- 9:23There is nothing between you and hell but the air.
- 9:26It is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
- 9:31You probably are not sensible of this.
- 9:34You find you are kept out of hell, but you do not see the hand of God in it.
- 9:38But look at other things, at the good state of your bodily constitution,
- 9:43your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation.
- 9:47But indeed, these things are nothing.
- 9:50If God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling
- 9:54than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.
- 9:59Your wickedness makes you, as it were, heavy as lead,
- 10:02and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell.
- 10:06And if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend
- 10:11and plunge into the bottomless gulf.
- 10:14And your healthy constitution and your own care and prudence and best contrivance
- 10:19and all your righteousness would have no more influence to hold you up
- 10:23and keep you out of hell than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock.
- 10:29Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God,
- 10:31the earth would not bear you one moment, for you are a burden to it.
- 10:36The creation groans with you.
- 10:38The creation is made subject to the bondage of your corruption.
- 10:43The sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan.
- 10:47The earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts,
- 10:52nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon.
- 10:55The earth does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of your life in your vitals,
- 11:01while you spend your life in the service of God's enemies.
- 11:05God's creatures are good and were made for men to serve God with,
- 11:09and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose,
- 11:12and grow when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end.
- 11:18And the world would spew you out,
- 11:20were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in hope.
- 11:24There are the black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads,
- 11:30full of the dreadful storm and big with thunder.
- 11:34And were it not for the restraining hand of God,
- 11:37it would immediately burst forth upon you.
- 11:40End quote.
- 11:42But our text today says there is now no condemnation.
- 11:48No condemnation for who?
- 11:50For those who are in Christ Jesus.
- 11:54All that Edwards rightly says,
- 11:57the condemnation that is true and just for those not in Christ,
- 12:02is not ours because we are in Christ.
- 12:06John chapter 10, beginning in verse 27,
- 12:10Jesus says,
- 12:11Beloved, this is God's doing, right?
- 12:34Regardless of how you acted this week,
- 12:38if you are in Christ,
- 12:40God sees Jesus when he sees you,
- 12:43and you are safe,
- 12:44and you are secure in his hand.
- 12:47There is therefore now no condemnation.
- 12:52Right?
- 12:53Udais katakrima.
- 12:54No condemnation.
- 12:56If you are not in Christ,
- 12:58your condemnation is just.
- 13:00Repent and believe.
- 13:01If you are in Christ,
- 13:04you have been freed from condemnation.
- 13:07Live as a freed person.
- 13:11We have to preach this to ourselves again and again and again
- 13:16as we find ourselves failing to obey the commands of God
- 13:20to say to ourselves,
- 13:22there is therefore now no condemnation
- 13:24because I am in Christ.
- 13:28His righteousness is mine.
- 13:30He took the penalty for my sin.
- 13:33There is no condemnation for me.
- 13:37And this does not become a pass for sin,
- 13:39but it ought to move us in worship
- 13:41that we would become more holy
- 13:44by the power that he provides.
- 13:46Right?
- 13:46That we would want to please him
- 13:47because we have been freed in this way.
- 13:52Verse 2 says,
- 13:53For the law of the spirit of life
- 13:55has set you free in Christ Jesus
- 13:58from the law of sin and death.
- 14:01In Christ Jesus,
- 14:01we have been delivered from the law of sin and death
- 14:04to the law of the spirit of life.
- 14:09When Paul refers to the law here,
- 14:10I do not believe he's referring to the Mosaic law
- 14:12or to other divine commandments or requirements,
- 14:16but that he's referring to a principle of operation.
- 14:19Right?
- 14:20To the thing that drives you.
- 14:23Are we driven by sin, death,
- 14:27or by the spirit of life?
- 14:30When Jesus explained the way of salvation
- 14:33to Dick and Ebus in John chapter 3, verse 5,
- 14:36he said,
- 14:36Truly, truly, I say to you,
- 14:38unless one is born of water and the spirit,
- 14:41he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
- 14:44Paul explains in Titus chapter 3, verses 5 and 6,
- 14:47God saved us,
- 14:49not because of works done by us in righteousness,
- 14:51but according to his own mercy,
- 14:54by the washing of regeneration
- 14:56and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
- 14:58whom he poured out on us richly
- 15:00through Jesus Christ, our Savior.
- 15:04It is the Holy Spirit who bestows,
- 15:06and energizes spiritual life.
- 15:10Paul clarifies this in the following verses
- 15:12in chapter 8, verse 6,
- 15:16For to set the mind on the flesh is death,
- 15:19but to set the mind on the spirit
- 15:21is life and peace.
- 15:23So the spirit of Christ leads us in the truth,
- 15:28namely by the word of Christ, the Bible.
- 15:32Verse 9 of chapter 8,
- 15:33You, however, are not in the flesh,
- 15:36but in the spirit,
- 15:37if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you.
- 15:40Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ
- 15:42does not belong to him.
- 15:45And verse 10,
- 15:46But if Christ is in you,
- 15:47although the body is dead because of sin,
- 15:50the spirit is life
- 15:52because of righteousness.
- 15:53The Holy Spirit bestows and energizes
- 15:57our spiritual life.
- 16:01And does so
- 16:02because we are in Christ Jesus.
- 16:07And the Bible speaks both of Christ being in us.
- 16:12See chapters 8, 9, and 10.
- 16:14It's what I just read to you.
- 16:15The spirit, so Christ,
- 16:17is in us
- 16:18and of us being in Christ.
- 16:23Being in Christ makes us accepted before God.
- 16:26And Christ being in us
- 16:28empowers us for holiness.
- 16:31Both are profound realities
- 16:34for the Christian to understand
- 16:36and hold on to.
- 16:37Don't think of them as the same reality.
- 16:40Think of them as two concurrent realities, right?
- 16:44Christ is in us
- 16:45and we are in Christ.
- 16:47It's important to wrap our mind around the both.
- 16:52If we were not in Christ
- 16:53and if Christ was not in us,
- 16:55we would be unable to stand before God
- 16:58and we would be unable to live rightly.
- 17:01Because our text says,
- 17:03In Christ Jesus,
- 17:04I want to explore that idea a bit further
- 17:06by reading to you a list
- 17:08that was compiled by Pastor John Piper.
- 17:11And I posted this in Slack for you
- 17:13because it's a bit
- 17:14and I think you'll want to go back
- 17:16and re-reference it later on.
- 17:19So I'm just going to rattle these off.
- 17:2113 realities
- 17:22because you are in Christ.
- 17:24And I'll read the verses
- 17:25that accompany each one of them.
- 17:27I hope this is really good
- 17:29for your soul this morning.
- 17:31Number one,
- 17:32In Christ Jesus,
- 17:33you were given grace
- 17:35before the world was created.
- 17:372 Timothy 1.9 says,
- 17:38He gave us grace in Christ Jesus
- 17:41before the ages began.
- 17:43Number two,
- 17:45In Christ Jesus,
- 17:46you were chosen by God
- 17:47before creation.
- 17:49Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4 says,
- 17:51God chose us in Christ
- 17:52before the foundation of the world.
- 17:55Number three,
- 17:56In Christ Jesus,
- 17:57you are loved by God
- 17:58with an inseparable love.
- 18:01Romans chapter 8,
- 18:02verse 38 and 39.
- 18:03I am sure that neither death
- 18:05nor life
- 18:06nor angels
- 18:07nor rulers
- 18:07nor things present
- 18:08nor things to come
- 18:10nor powers
- 18:11nor height
- 18:11nor depth
- 18:12nor anything else
- 18:13in all creation.
- 18:15And you know I like to insert here,
- 18:17including myself
- 18:18will be able to separate us
- 18:20from the love of God
- 18:21in Christ Jesus,
- 18:22our Lord.
- 18:24Number four,
- 18:25In Christ Jesus,
- 18:26you were redeemed
- 18:27and forgiven
- 18:28for all your sins.
- 18:29Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 7,
- 18:31In Christ we have redemption
- 18:32through his blood,
- 18:34the forgiveness
- 18:34of our trespasses.
- 18:36Number five,
- 18:37In Christ Jesus,
- 18:38you are justified before God
- 18:39and the righteousness of God
- 18:41in Christ is imputed
- 18:42or given to you.
- 18:452 Corinthians chapter 5,
- 18:46verse 21,
- 18:47For our sake,
- 18:48God made Christ to be sin
- 18:50who knew no sin
- 18:51so that in him
- 18:53we might become
- 18:54the righteousness of God.
- 18:56Number six,
- 18:57In Christ Jesus,
- 18:58you have become
- 18:58a new creation
- 19:00and a son of God.
- 19:02Ladies,
- 19:02you want to be sons
- 19:03for the inheritance
- 19:04that sons receive.
- 19:062 Corinthians chapter 5
- 19:07and verse 17,
- 19:09If anyone is in Christ,
- 19:10he is a new creation.
- 19:11The old has passed away.
- 19:13Behold,
- 19:14the new has come.
- 19:15In Galatians chapter 3
- 19:16and verse 26,
- 19:18In Christ Jesus,
- 19:19you are all sons of God
- 19:20through faith.
- 19:22Number seven,
- 19:23In Christ Jesus,
- 19:25you have been seated
- 19:25in the heavenly places
- 19:26even while he lived
- 19:28on earth.
- 19:29Ephesians chapter 2
- 19:31and verse 6,
- 19:32God raised us up
- 19:33with Christ
- 19:34and seated us
- 19:35with him
- 19:35in the heavenly places
- 19:36in Christ Jesus.
- 19:39Number eight,
- 19:40In Christ Jesus,
- 19:41all the promises of God
- 19:43are yes for you.
- 19:452 Corinthians chapter 1
- 19:46and verse 20,
- 19:47All the promises of God
- 19:49find their yes
- 19:50in Christ.
- 19:52Number nine,
- 19:53In Christ Jesus,
- 19:54you are being sanctified
- 19:55and made holy.
- 19:561 Corinthians chapter 1
- 19:58and verse 2,
- 19:59To the church of God
- 20:00that is in Corinth
- 20:01to those who are sanctified
- 20:03in Christ Jesus.
- 20:06Number ten,
- 20:07In Christ Jesus,
- 20:08everything you really need
- 20:10will be supplied.
- 20:11Philippians chapter 4
- 20:12and verse 19,
- 20:14My God will supply
- 20:15every need of yours
- 20:16according to his riches
- 20:17in glory
- 20:18in Christ Jesus.
- 20:20Number eleven,
- 20:21In Christ Jesus,
- 20:23the peace of God
- 20:24will guard your heart
- 20:25and mind.
- 20:26Philippians 4
- 20:27and verse 7,
- 20:28The peace of God
- 20:29which surpasses
- 20:30all understanding
- 20:31will guard your hearts
- 20:32and your minds
- 20:33in Christ Jesus.
- 20:35Number twelve,
- 20:37In Christ Jesus,
- 20:38you have eternal life.
- 20:40Romans 6
- 20:41and verse 23,
- 20:42For the wages of sin
- 20:43is death,
- 20:43but the free gift of God
- 20:45is eternal life
- 20:45in Christ Jesus,
- 20:47our Lord.
- 20:48And number thirteen,
- 20:49And in Christ Jesus
- 20:51you will be raised
- 20:52from the dead
- 20:52at the coming of the Lord.
- 20:54First Corinthians chapter 15
- 20:56and verse 22,
- 20:57For is as in Adam
- 20:59all died,
- 21:00so also in Christ
- 21:01shall all be made alive.
- 21:03All those united to Adam
- 21:05in the first humanity
- 21:07die.
- 21:08All those united to Christ
- 21:10in the new humanity
- 21:11rise to live again.
- 21:14If you are in Christ
- 21:16this morning,
- 21:17you have such reason
- 21:19to praise God
- 21:21and to pursue
- 21:22holy living.
- 21:23Right?
- 21:24Our holiness hinges
- 21:26on being found in Christ,
- 21:28being declared holy,
- 21:30and then praising Him rightly
- 21:32for who we are
- 21:34in Him.
- 21:36It's important for us
- 21:37to recognize that
- 21:38as we are being sanctified,
- 21:40we are merely becoming
- 21:42more who we've been
- 21:44declared to be.
- 21:45God has declared us
- 21:48righteous in Christ.
- 21:50God has said
- 21:51there is no
- 21:52condemnation.
- 21:53Right?
- 21:54We're bringing our lives
- 21:55into conformity
- 21:57with that reality
- 21:58as we pursue
- 22:00holiness.
- 22:01Right?
- 22:02We know this will take
- 22:03a lifetime.
- 22:04All of us will join
- 22:05with Paul
- 22:06at the end
- 22:06of chapter 7.
- 22:08We will all feel
- 22:09the anguish
- 22:11of that tearing
- 22:12between us.
- 22:13Right?
- 22:14Wretched man
- 22:14that I am.
- 22:16I hope at the same time
- 22:18we can all say,
- 22:20but there is no
- 22:21condemnation
- 22:22for me
- 22:23because I am
- 22:24in Christ.
- 22:25And because of that
- 22:26we will be motivated
- 22:28to once again
- 22:28pick ourselves up.
- 22:30Right?
- 22:30To run hard
- 22:32after the way
- 22:33of Jesus.
- 22:35Beloved,
- 22:35you have been set free
- 22:37from the law
- 22:38of sin
- 22:39and death.
- 22:40You do not
- 22:41have to do it
- 22:42any longer.
- 22:44You have been
- 22:45empowered
- 22:45in Christ
- 22:47to pursue
- 22:48him.
- 22:50I hope you're
- 22:51reminded this morning
- 22:52as you struggle
- 22:53with sin,
- 22:53as you struggle
- 22:55against your flesh,
- 22:57that there is
- 22:57therefore now
- 22:57no condemnation
- 22:58for those
- 22:59who are in Christ
- 23:00Jesus.
- 23:01For the law
- 23:02of the spirit
- 23:02of life
- 23:03has set you
- 23:04free
- 23:04in Christ
- 23:05Jesus
- 23:05from the law
- 23:07of sin
- 23:08and death.