The Tragedy of Unbelief (Rom. 10:1-5)

The Tragedy of Unbelief

(Rom. 10:1-5)

In the book of Romans, Paul addresses a sincere desire, a great passion to see salvation come to his fellow Jews. Now, there were many Jews who had become Christians (but the majority of Israel was lost) but Paul had a heartfelt desire to see those lost Jews to receive Jesus as Messiah. The nation of Israel rejected Jesus and it was this rejection of God's love that grieved the heart of Paul. Paul even makes the statement that if he could become accursed and separated from Christ that he would if he could bring the lost of Israel to Christ. Israel's unbelief is a great tragedy, it has cost them much and for now Israel has been set aside for the Church but God has not forgotten Israel and His promises to Israel is still in effect and will come to pass. Through Israel's unbelief salvation has come to the Gentiles, now that's us (Rom. 11:11 - “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.”). Today will look at the tragedy of unbelief.

I. Paul's Concern for their Unbelief (v. 1-3 - “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh”).

Look at how the Apostle Paul grieved for his lost countrymen. He had a great desire to see the lost saved especially those of the lost house of Israel. Paul was greatly moved about their unbelief desiring that they would believe the Gospel and receive Jesus as Lord. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles but his hearts desire was to see the lost of Israel come to Christ. If you study the book of Acts you will see that when Paul went into a Gentile city that he would find a Jewish synagogue to begin teaching and preaching about Christ and when as usual most of the synagogues would kick him out (literally and figuratively), it is then he would gain an audience with the Gentile population and churches would be started with Gentile and, hopefully, Jewish believers. Paul saw and understood the great blessings and wonders of Christ being made known to all nation, tribes, tongues, and peoples but he had a burden for his lost countrymen, the Jews. Paul went to many foreign lands and cities and has lead so many to Christ but he is still so greatly concerned for the lost of his people. It is an awesome thing to be concerned for the lost Filipino or the lost Chinaman or lost African but what about our own nation? Look at the state of America, look at our leadership, look at our entertainment, look at our cities, look at our neighborhoods, and look at our fellow citizens and see how far from God our nation is from God. We have a president and leadership in the House and Congress and in the Supreme Court that ignore and despise God and God's word. America's entertainment industry despises the name of Christ and our society has rejected the holy law of God and has called evil good and good evil. So, how about our nation? Are the churches of America concerned about the unbelief and sinfulness of America? Do we grieve for our fellow countrymen like the Apostle Paul did for his own people? It is a great thing to send missionaries to foreign lands and it's a great thing for our church to build churches in the Philippines but what about the people that live up and down our streets, those who are lost in our families, those who speak our language, who live in our neighborhoods and towns and cities, and who live in this great land who still don't know about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We, as part of the Christian church in America who might send out missionaries to the heathen in foreign lands what a great tragedy that we have forgotten the heathen, the lost that live among us and work around us everyday. We are to be interested in the foreign mission field but we should not be blind and indifferent to the lost that's around us. We have a modern society that knows a little about everything and a whole lot about nothing. And when it comes about spiritual matters, today's American would rather trust Oprah rather than Jesus. There is a famine of spiritual truth today and America is ignorant of Jesus and the Bible. Most of America is lost will we grieve and will intercede to God on behalf of our nation for Him to save the lost. America is now in a post-Christian era. America believes in the religion of self-help and their god is their own self. Paul when he is grieving over the lost nation of Israel states that the problem of Israel was like the problem of America and that they trusted in their own selves and their power and works and false religion to save them instead of trusting solely in God through Christ (Rom. 10:1-4 - “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”). We must see the example of Paul to be concerned, to be burdened for our lost neighbors and families for our nation that's fallen into unbelief.

II. Paul's Recollection of God Revealing Himself to that Nation (v. 4-5 - “who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”)

Paul tells us of all that God did to reveal Himself to Israel. That God called out a specific people that came through the lineage of Abraham. The privilege to be Israelites, the descendants of Abraham because Israel was separated out to be God's special and unique people (Ex. 19:6 - “you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”).

Secondly, God is called the Father of Israel. He has a special plan still for lost Israel. God has not altogether forsaken that nation. That nation had a special calling and blessing that God had bestowed on it but Israel as a whole had forsaken that calling. The Old Testament showed God as the Father of the nation Israel unlike the New Testament which refers to God being the Father of individual Christians. Still, it was a great honor to be chosen by God but Israel wasted that privilege through rebellion and unbelief.

Third, God revealed to Israel His glory. God's shekinah glory was seen by Israel as it lead them through the wilderness, as it was seen on Mt. Sinai, in and on the Tabernacle and later on the Temple in Jerusalem in the Holy of Holies residing between the cherubim wings on the mercy seat of the Ark.

Fourth, Israel had been given the covenants of Abraham, Moses, and David. But the greatest covenant of them all came through Israel and that of course is the covenant of redemption through Jesus, His Son.

Fifth, they had the privilege of being given the Law of God through his servant Moses. In it the 10 Commandments, the principles and precepts and standards that God demanded of those who were truly His own. Not only were they given that blessed Law but also the privilege of being custodians of the books of Moses, of King David and Solomon, and of the holy prophets of God which became what we know to be Old Testament.

Sixth, Israel was given the privilege to worship in service of the tabernacle and Temple.

Seventh they were given the promises of God concerning the promised Messiah and His everlasting kingdom and even eternal life.

Eighth, the fathers or patriarchs of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Through these men God chose to use, came the blessings to Israel and the whole world. Finally ninth, and the greatest blessing of all that came from Israel was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is through the person and work of Jesus Christ that salvation has come to this world.

But in all those blessings and revelations of God, Israel rejected the Gospel and Jesus Christ their long-awaited Messiah. Having the great and awesome revelations and oracles of God given to them, they rejected Him for a false system of works-righteousness. They chose darkness rather than light (John 3:19-20 - “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed”). The reason that Jesus so viciously attacked the Pharisees every time they came around was because they were false teachers and they were responsible for keeping the people in darkness by teaching works-righteousness. Israel's unbelief in Jesus was because they chose the false over the true. Now, what about our nation? I know that America is not Israel but what America was founded upon was very important to the birth and greatness of our nation. When the founding fathers of America laid the foundation of Christian principles and God blessed them to let this nation be born and the people of this nation regarded God and His holy Word with reverence and fear. The people of this nation looked with disdain and distaste at sin and immorality. If God judged Israel sins and disobedience by giving up them up to their sins and the consequences of their sins by bringing them into captivity and destruction (remember that was God's chosen nation), what will He do to America. How will He judge us? I believe America is seeing the wrath of God abandoning this nation to our vile sins. Church are we willing to warn our nation? Are you willing to tell your neighbor that only Jesus can save their souls? I believe that we as God's people must individually and corporately pray and intercede for our country and our lost countrymen. We must become just as concerned to turn around the heart of this nation back to God. We must pray and we must be concerned enough to tell this lost nation that Jesus still saves and there is no other way.

Today, as we see Paul's concern for the lost of his fellow countrymen and how even lost Israel knew the truth once but forsook it for false religion. We must again as the church in America be burdened enough to witness to our family and friends and burdened enough to pray for the heart of this nation to turn back to God in fear and reverence.

More Than Conquerors (Rom. 8:31-39)

More Than Conquerors

(Rom. 8:31-39)

In this passage we have read how that nothing and that no one is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Of all the things that Paul lists, he states that nothing can overcome or defeat the loving and gracious salvation of our Lord. No person or circumstance is able to cause a believer in Christ to lose our salvation in Christ. We read that in all those things that are named and that we might face, the fact is as it says in verse 37 is that we are “more than conquerors” over those things through Christ. Today, we will look at the reasons why we are “more than conquerors” through Christ.

I. 1^st reason - “God is for us” (v.31-32, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?)

The main reason that we should know that our salvation with Christ is secure is that God is for us. Who can overcome God? We know that answer is no one. So if we are God's own then who can take us out of the hand of God? No one (John 10:28-29 - “I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand”. If God is for us then who can be against us? The answer is still the same, no one. Ps. 27:1 declares, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”. God knew before we came into existence that humanity would fall; but in His wondrous love and grace determined that He would save us from our sins. God the Father reached out to us in grace through His Son Jesus Christ, by His suffering and death on the cross and His resurrection, to bring salvation to every person who would receive Christ by faith. What a glorious and miraculous power that God performed in order to just save us. The love, the pain, the suffering, the death and resurrection Christ went through on our behalf (Rom. 5:8 - “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”). Christian doesn't that show, doesn't that reveal this fact that God is for us? When we can get our minds and our hearts wrapped around this glorious truth, it is then we can have that peaceful assurance that we are eternally secure in our saving relationship with Christ. To grasp that we cannot save ourselves, that it is the sole work of Christ in the heart of a man or woman and nothing that we do can save us. It is God that's got us and it's God that keeps us and it's God that will present us on that final and ultimate day (Jude 1:24-25 - “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen”). God's got us; God is for us. In Christ we are forgiven, accepted, kept, and sealed until we are one day glorified. No one and nothing can undo the fact of our salvation in Christ. Only the One who has given us salvation can possibly take that away but that is a foolish thought because it says right here in v. 32 that “He ...did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all”, God will never throw out or turn away any of His children that have been purchased by the blood of Christ. For God to cast away any of His children after He has delivered up His Son as a sacrifice for our sins; He would never turn His back on us after He has cleansed us from sin by Christ's blood and made us righteous and acceptable in His sight. By the death and resurrection of Christ we know and understand that God is for us.

II. 2^nd reason – Christ Intercedes for Us (v. 33-34 - “Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”)

There are many accusers of the faith. Our greatest accuser is Satan and that's what the name Satan means. We can see in the book of Job where Satan accuses Job worshiping God out of selfishness rather than out of reverence and love (Job1:8-12). But we can see for the rest of the book of Job that the testing of Job could not destroy Job's persevering faith in God. There are other passages that show the accusations of the enemy against God's children. The world and Satan will always accuse believers in God. In the book of Zechariah 3:1-5, Satan tries accusing the high priest Joshua of wearing dirty garments while attending in the Tabernacle, it says, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by”. Although Joshua wore “filthy garments”, that is still living in this sinful body of flesh, he was one of God's redeemed and Satan can bring no accusation against him, Satan was powerless to destroy and discredit God's servant. Now every accusation of this world or by Satan are not always false because we are still not sinless. But even though the accusation is true, the charge made is powerless. If we are Christ's then every sin past, present, and future are forgiven and covered by the blood of Christ. The eternal salvation of Christ destroys all accusations of damnation by the accusers. Our salvation is not determined on our ability or us trying to be perfect (which is impossible) but it is based upon our God who has justified us through the person and work of Jesus Christ (His suffering, death, & resurrection). The accusations against us to condemnation are powerless in the light that Jesus saved us and keeps us because His sacrifice gave us the finished work of salvation. Because Christ provided for our salvation and when He finished that work the Bible says the He “sat down at the right hand of God – (Heb. 10:12)”. Although the work of atonement was finished, Jesus is still at the right hand of the Father ministering intercession for all of us who are redeemed until we have made it to our Heavenly Home (Heb. 7:25 - “He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them”). When we gain a pure understanding of the work Christ did on the cross to save our wretched souls then we can understand what it means to be secure in that salvation. All of us who were vile, sinful, wretched, and ungodly have been shown the love of God through the Father sending His Son to die for us, so how can we who have been saved by that love knowing that God's love is powerful to save, lack the power to keep us saved. If Jesus had the power to deliver us from the bondage of sin, then how can He lack the power to keep us saved? To believe that a Christian can lose his salvation and to deny the security of the believer is to misunderstand the wonderful gift of Christ and misunderstand the wonderful heart of God. It all comes down to ignorance of the biblical meaning of salvation. Be sure of this Christian, Jesus is ever interceding for His children and we are eternally secure in Him.

III. 3^rd Reason – Nothing and No One Can Separate Us (v. 35-39 - “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”).

Let us look at first set of things that cannot separate us from the “love of God”: tribulation – severe hardship(hard times), distress – extreme stress, persecution – suffering for the sake of Christ, famine – lack of food and hunger, nakedness - destitution, peril – exposed to danger, or sword – assassination. Paul says that will not separate us from the love of God. How does Paul know this? Because he faced all of these things (2 Cor. 11:23-27 - “Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if insane) I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure”), but he still served God because it could not separate him from the love of God. Paul faced persecution and eventually martyrdom, why did Paul face all these things? It was because God loved him first (1 John 4:19 - “We love, because He first loved us”). Any Christian's love for God is the direct result of God so wonderfully loving us first, in the heart of every child of God is the seed of God's love that must grow and blossom into a love for His Lord that will want to sow the seeds of God's love in other people lives. Paul finishes this chapter with the truth that we are “more than conquerors” in Christ in spite of any attempt that this world or Satan tries to throw at us. Let me finish with the last two verses of this passage: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. There is nothing in heaven nor earth, no angel nor demon, no king nor president, no high mountain range nor ocean depths, and no human nor beast that can ever steal my salvation or destroy the love that Christ has for me.

It's All Good in God. (Romans 8:28)

It's All Good in God.

(Rom. 8:28)

The NASB gives us a better translation of Romans 8:28; “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”. The world has a saying, “it's all good”, but that statement is false because it most certainly not all good. The gist of that worldly statement means if it works for you whether it is done by good or bad means, moral or immoral behavior, just as long as you get what you want then the end justifies the means. This is not so for the child of God, as we serve God, as we live for God then God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him. This verse is a beautiful and wondrous promise from our Father God. Now it doesn't mean we will never have problems, trials, temptations, or persecution. Just like the country song says, He never “promised you a rose garden”. God does promise for those that are His own that we have a blessed assurance of being eternally secure in His salvation and in our lives He will work out the situations in our lives to His glory and our best. Today's sermon is “ It's all good in God”.

I. The Assurance (“And we know...”).

In those first three words of this promise, we see that we have an assurance, a certainty, and a sureness that we can know the wonderful security found in our Savior. Our salvation in Christ is sure and secure. Christian, our lives are in the hands of Almighty God and it will be divinely used by God to bring God glory and if it brings about God's glory then it will work out to our ultimate blessing. But the greater meaning of that we can know is that when we have been saved by faith in Christ, is that He has completely and eternally saved us. The Bible teaches us that our eternal, sovereign God alone saves us, that He alone is responsible for our salvation and it has nothing to do with any effort of our own. We cannot save ourselves. If our salvation had to do with our effort to save us then we would fail. But because eternal God alone is responsible for saving us through Christ, then God's salvation can never fail and we are eternally secure in His salvation. We cannot save ourselves and therefore we couldn't keep ourselves saved only God can do that. I remember that at one time, I believed that I was in a cooperative effort to keep myself saved and it brought about a great burden and grief to my Christian walk. I was always consumed by the effort to try and not sin enough to make me lost again, always consumed with fear that every bad thought or every little sin would condemn me once again to Hell. But when I began reading verse and passages that reminded me that salvation is solely the work of God through Christ then I was given that blessed assurance and that deep fear left my life. When I read in scripture that Jesus promised me in John 10:27-29, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand”, nothing can take me out of the hand of my Savior and my God. And then I read in Rom. 8:1 that “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” and in Rom. 8:35-39 that there is absolutely no one and nothing in this world that can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, that there is no fear of ever being separated from salvation in Christ and the Holy Spirit through the holy Word of God illuminated that truth to me and set me free from the bondage of religion. To “know” this certainty reveals that whatever I face in my life here on earth, I will face it in His hands. So today friends, whatever is going on in your life, be it heartache or stress or sickness or death or disappointment or trials or temptations or the devil or just life in general, I want you to grab a hold of this truth that whatever may be coming at you must not only face you but it must also face the God that is holding you in His hand. That's the truth that we must know and this is what brings you assurance to face the day and the day after that. You may not be able to face the problem but God is not intimidated. Just rest in that assurance and rely upon Him.

II. The Scope (“...that God causes all things to work together for good”...).

Now that we know let's look at the scope or extent of this promise. It says that because we are absolutely assured of an eternal relationship in Christ, we can see that there is a limitless work of God in our lives. The scope of God's blessing is unlimited (Eph. 1:3 - “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”) and if we are living in His blessings of His eternal salvation in Christ we see that God will be at work in our lives. It says in this verse that God causes all things to work together for good. God doesn't work the good out in some things but in all things. The extent is unlimited, there is nothing in our lives or that we face in our lives that God does not work His good in. It is God Himself that works out the good that comes to all that are His children. So when we see “all things” it is utterly complete, no limits, it's all-encompassing, and there is no restrictions or conditions in whatever experiences that we have in this life that God does not work in. what we read here is simply saying that whatever things we experience in our live that God allows to happen in our lives, be they good or evil, it says that God will ultimately turns those things into blessings. I know that there are those on TV, the false teachers that say if you are truly blessed by God then no bad will come into your life and if it does then you must have sinned or lost faith but they have ignored the saints of God on the Bible that have faced bad times and God had allowed it. Take for instance Job, God allowed Satan to tempt and try him but after Job had lost all that he had, his wealth and his children, Job still has faith in his God, that he still trusts God and we see this by his powerful affirmation of the goodness of God to him by him saying in Job 1:21, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD”. The book of Job gave no reason as to why God allowed Job to face what he faced other than to bring glory to God. Sometimes our suffering and hardships might have a reason like there was with Joseph. Joseph was thrown into a pit and sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, was falsely accused by Pothiphar's wife because he would not sin against God by sleeping with her so he was thrown in prison. Joseph became the chief trusty in prison and through God interpreted the dreams of two men who had been close to Pharaoh. One was his cupbearer and the other his baker, Joseph told them through the revelation of God that the cupbearer would be restored and the other would be hanged in three days and that came to pass, but the cupbearer promised to Joseph to mention his name before Pharaoh to help get him out of prison. Well, the scriptures say that the cupbearer forgot for two years before the Pharaoh had a dream and then the cup-bearer remembered Joseph. Joseph through God revealed the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream of a great harvest of 7 years followed by a great famine of 7 years across the whole land. Joseph was promoted to 2^nd in command of Egypt and stored up enough grain to save Egypt and the surrounding countries and even the promised people of God, Joseph's family. In all the evil that seemingly befallen Joseph, he served God and God used his life and his circumstances to bring about God's will and God's glory. Joseph realized this after he had been elevated and placed to where he was in Egypt. Joseph could have sought revenge against his brothers for the hardships he faced but just like he always had in his hard life journey, he saw God's hand in it all for he says to his brothers in Gen. 50:20, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive”. Joseph realized that God is in control and that God causes all things to work together for good. Through this we see God's will is good, that His faithfulness is good even if we are unfaithful. If we as His children sin against Him, the Bible says that He will discipline us for our good because He loves us (Heb. 12:6,11 - “For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives”. “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”). Sometimes God allows sickness or death to come on us for our sins to warn us or others. Sometimes God may have to put us in the hospital to see the goodness of God and restore us to rightful fellowship with Him or death may come to some like Ananias ans Sapphira who as Christians lied to the Holy Spirit and God killed them but for what reason? The reason is found in Acts 5:11, “So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things”. Whatever we face we have to face it with God and we need to be obedient to His will for us whatever we face, we are His. We need to be like Job and realize the work God is doing in us for our good and His glory. Job says in Job 23:10, “When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold”. Trials of fire refine the gold of our walk with Christ.

III. The Recipients (“...to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”).

To have the good of God in your lives, the blessings of God in every circumstance, and His ever present Spirit every where you walk and in everything you face; you have to be a child of God. You have to be a recipient of His love through Christ. You can face life alone and then face an eternity alone in eternal torment or you can know His love here in this life and into the eternity to come but you have to believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”). No other way to face the hardships and trials of life except with Christ. He will never leave or forsake you and you can face everything in your life in His hands.

No Condemnation (Rom. 8:1-4)

No Condemnation

(Rom. 8:1-4)

Last sermon from Romans 7 dealt with our conflict with ourselves, that as Christians we will always be at war with sin in our lives. Here in the beginning of chapter 8, we will see a provision has been made in the promise of salvation for the believer. It is summed up in Rom. 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”, there is no judgment for those in Christ. We are going to look at the reality of that promise, the way it has been provided, and the result of walking in the path of salvation. Today's sermon is “No Condemnation”.

I. The Reality of Salvation's Promise (v. 8:1a - “There is therefore now no condemnation...”).

The word “therefore” is there to show us a some sort of result or it sums up to a conclusion. The conclusion here is a single, simple statement of the result of one being saved from their sins by their faith in Christ. The concluding statement is that for a Christian there is no condemnation (or judgment). The entire previous seven chapters dealing with our sin, our sin nature, our judgment, our savior, and our salvation received through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. All that said and taught by the Apostle Paul and he sums it all up with this statement “there is no condemnation”. We know and understand from the previous study of the earlier chapters of Romans, that our condition before we knew Christ Jesus as Lord was that we were under the judgment of God. All of mankind was born sinful and separated from God by our sinful nature (Romans 3:23 -“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”), and it describes us in our sins in Eph. 2:3 as being “by nature children of wrath”. In our study of Romans in chapter 1 that we talked about the wrath of God. The wrath of of our holy God is His righteous anger and hatred of sin and evil and it is the basis of His condemnation of sin. In our sinfulness, without Christ, we were under the condemnation for our sins and for breaking God's holy Law which is death (Rom. 6:23 - “the wages of sin is death” and Ezek. 18:4 - “the soul that sins shall die”), that is our verdict. Just like the man on death row, judged and sentenced to death, the day of judgment set and justice not satisfied until the penalty for guilt is met. That is all of us without Christ. But here in Rom. 8:1, Paul declares that there is “no condemnation”, what wondrous and amazing good news for the Christian, “no condemnation”. Jesus has completely and permanently paid the debt of sin and the penalty for breaking God's Law. Our sins and our penalty for trespassing God's Law was not overlooked by God. It was not passed over or forgotten, it was paid, once for all, by the perfect, sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Death was the price and only Jesus' death could set us free from the death sentence that was pronounced on us. Jesus Christ died for us, in our place, and it was the only sacrifice accepted by the Father in our behalf. For those who have or will place their faith and trust in Christ and what He did on our behalf “there is therefore now no condemnation”. The freedom from condemnation and judgment is realized only in Christ and we must recognize that we will never face condemnation for our sins be they past, present, or future. Jesus' death on the cross dealt with our sins once and for all, that is the glorious power of salvation in Christ. In Heb 10:14, it says, “For by one offering [Christ's death on the cross] He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified”, those being sanctified are all who have separated unto God by salvation in Christ, their sins are forgiven and their condemnation, their judgment removed because of Jesus Christ taking their judgment on Himself. The penalties for our failures in this life was paid for by Christ.

We are not perfect, we are not sinless and we understand from last week's sermon that we will always have to deal with sin as long as we are on this earth and in this body. But just because we are free from divine judgment (condemnation), it does not mean our heavenly Father will not give us divine discipline for our moral failures as Christians (Heb. 12:6 - “For whom the LORD loves He disciplines, And scourges every son whom He receives”). We are still accountable for our actions to our Father even though we will not be condemned for our sins that Christ has forgiven and cleansed us from.

II. The Reason for Salvation's Reality (v. 1b-3 - “for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.”)

As we have already discussed, the no condemnation is the direct result of “those who are in Christ Jesus”. In chapter 7, all Christians, even the Apostle Paul, are not exempt from conflicts and struggles with sin. But we have read right here in this chapter (chap. 8) that all Christians are eternally free of the condemnation of sin. Even if we stumble and fall, all Christians from the strongest to the weakest will not experience condemnation for there sins but will experience ultimate victory over sin in the life to come. We are not merely identified outwardly with Christ, but also we are identified as being part of Christ. It says right here we are in Christ and being in Christ is what makes us acceptable to our Father God; 1 Cor. 12:13 declares that we “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body; whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit”. The Spirit of God places us into Christ, we become part of the body of Christ. Christ's life now flows into our lives and we must began to understand is that we live because He lives in us (Gal. 2:20 - “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”). The freedom in Christ gives us total and permanent deliverance from sin's power and penalty and when we are glorified one day, then will freed from it's presence. Let's look further in v. 2, it says that, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death”. In Titus 3:4-6, it says, “when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior”, the Holy Spirit of God is the one who gives spiritual life to the one who places His trust in Jesus Christ. Only the Spirit of God can give spiritual life to a spiritually dead heart. He is the One that frees us from sin and death, gives spiritual life for our sinful, spiritually dead spirit, we are free from the power of sin and it's dominion because of the powerful work of salvation made possible through Christ. In verse 3, it says that “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh”, it is reason why the eternal Son of God came and added humanity to His Deity and was born of a virgin. Flesh could not fulfill the righteous demands of God's Law, flesh was inferior and weak and sinful, it was incapable of not sinning and relished in breaking all of the holy commands of God's Law. Because God was holy and just, He can never pass over sin but must punish it. But because was loving, merciful, and full of grace, He extended His hand of forgiveness and grace through the incarnated Son of God, through His perfect sacrifice on the cross. It was through this holy and righteous Son of God, Jesus Christ, that His death condemned sin in the flesh of those who were condemned by sin. Those who by faith place their trust in the work that Christ has done on the cross have been justified and forgiven, their condemnation removed. Christ was sinless even though he lived in a body like ours, Jesus never sinned. The Law only exposed man's unrighteousness and no man or woman ever lived up to it's righteous requirement but Christ alone. In His sinlessness, He died as the perfect sacrifice to perfectly save us all. Is. 53:4-5 - “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed”. Because of Christ we are free from sin and condemnation of sin.

III. The Result of Walking in Salvation (v. 4 - “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”)

Because of Christ's death and resurrection, it has not only freed us from the power and penalty of sin, it has also freed Christians to live righteously. Christ set us free from sin and filled us with His Spirit not to live as we please but as our Lord pleases. The Spirit produces in us a desire to live for our Lord, to grow and mature as believers in Christ because our new spiritual nature is alive to Christ and we walk not according to the flesh(spiritually dead sinners do that) but according to the Spirit. When we become “sons (and daughters) of God”, it is then our lives will change for God's glory. We become enabled by the power of God to began living out righteously in our daily lives. This is the direct result of coming to faith in Christ. Christ's salvation will bring about an eternal change in each of our lives.

The glorious results of the amazing power of the Father's salvation through Christ of no condemnation of every believer's life and the powerful change and desire to know God and desire His will. Nothing in our flesh or by our power can affect this change; it is only the power of God through Christ.