God's GWG: No Condemnation

By God's Grace ~ Through God's Word ~ For God's Glory!

No Condemnation

Preface

The following sermon is one I preached on Sunday, March 19, 2000. I had been taking our church through the book of Romans for the past year and this sermon is really a summation of the glorious truth that we had covered.

The message given in this sermon is the wonderful good news ‑ the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is wonderful because it is full of wonder ‑ a wonder that we will only see as our eyes are opened to it.

That is my prayer and hope for you ‑ that as you read this your eyes would be opened to the glorious gospel of a most happy God and that you would be changed.

By God's Grace ‑ Through God's Word ‑ For God's Glory.

Pastor Chuck Long

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith” Romans 1:16-17

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"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." ‑ Romans 8: 1‑4

Before we get into today's text, let's take a quick look back at the Book of Acts, chapter 8. Here we have the church being born and suddenly a time of persecution breaks about among the Christians. In Acts 7 we read about Stephen, the first martyr for Jesus Christ and how his blood was poured out. And then in Acts 8, we get this little account, starting in verse 1. "And Saul (the Apostle Paul before his conversion; Paul would become a great apostle for Jesus Christ) was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison."

As far as we know, here is Saul's first encounter with the church of Jesus Christ, and it wasn't a positive one. It was one where he was responsible for taking Christians and dragging them off into prison where they were being put to death. Saul was responsible for the murder of many people. We go some years later and look at this text in Romans 8, and he says "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

How can a man responsible for killing Christians come to say these words? Was he advocating that it didn't matter what you did in life ‑ that God would overlook it and just move on? No, that's not what he's declaring. What he is declaring in Romans 8:1‑4 is simply a summary of everything he's just said in the first 7 chapters. He's declaring that those who are in Christ Jesus are justified. They have been declared righteous, and as such, they're secure in Christ. There is now no condemnation ‑ not because of what they have or have not done, but because of what God has done through His Son Jesus Christ. Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, they are justified. They are declared righteous. And for those who put their faith in Him, there is, therefore, now no condemnation.

As we look at these first four verses, he's not talking here about sanctification. He is summarizing the whole gospel of Jesus Christ ‑ the good news that we are justified in Christ and declared righteous in Christ. This is the good news of a gloriously happy God. It's good news! These four verses are so pregnant with hope. They are rich and full of encouragement and motivation because they are based on solid doctrinal truth. Therefore we can have encouragement, we can have hope, and we can know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ‑not because of our wavering emotions and feelings, but because of the unchanging truth of God that Paul is laying out here.

This truth is so crucial for us to grab a hold of for three reasons:

• First of all, to have a right understanding of the gospel. If we don't first of all understand the truth that Paul is summarizing in these four verses, then we're not going to have a right understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Secondly, to have a right understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

• Lastly, to have the right motivation for Christian living. With that motivation, we will then realize the power we have to live the Christian life and to live victoriously. Again, not based on our performance, but based on what God has accomplished for us through Jesus Christ.

The Good News of a Gloriously Happy God!

Here we have the good news of a gloriously happy God. Let's start in verse 2. We'll come back to conclude in verse 1, but here in verse 2 Paul says, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. " Now why is this good news? Let's look back to some Old Testament prophecy, and especially one that Christ came to fulfill, and did fulfill. In Isaiah 61:1‑3, we read this prophecy regarding Jesus Christ: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

Why is this good news? Because this is the good news that's proclaiming the freedom Christ came to give ‑ freedom from our sin, and to thus experience the abundant life which can only come when we get freedom from our sin. Not just forgiveness, but the power to live the life of righteousness, so that we can be called oaks of righteousness. Not because of what we do, but because of what He did. That's what makes it good news.

Why is it the good news This is the good news that's of the gloriously happy God? In proclaiming the freedom Matthew 25, Christ is talking about the end times, and He says this in verse 34: "Then the King will say to those on His right, `Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." This is the good news of a gloriously happy God because this was God's plan before the foundation of the world.

Do you realize that? A lot of Christians get confused. They think God's fickle ‑ they think He established the Old Testament covenant and then discovered it wasn't going to work and thought He had to come up with a better plan, so he said "Jesus, why don't you go and clean up the mess?" Well that's not how it happened. God prepared this before the foundation of the world. This was God's plan before the world even came into existence. And that's why it's the good news of a gloriously happy God because now Gods' plan from the very foundation of the world is fulfilled through his son Jesus Christ ‑ the plan He declared before any of us were on the face of the earth, before Adam and Eve, before the world was created. God is happy because now it is done. Now it is done. Now there can be freedom for His people.

In Ephesians 1:4‑6, the Apostle Paul says “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” To the glory of His praise. Through this plan that He instituted before the world was created, only one thing will be accomplished: praise and glory will be brought to His Name. hat's why it's the good news of a gloriously happy God. It's good because it has nothing to do with us. There's nothing that we have to do to receive the benefits of this, and we're going to see that as we move on.

The Apostle Paul says `the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.' He's not saying anything new. He's said all of this in the first seven chapters. Turn back to chapter 5. Paul lays out things in very logical order. Then he often summarizes what he says, and he says it in a different way to bring new life to it. He's just summarizing truth he just gave. Look in chapter 5, verses 20‑21. Here he says “And the Law came in that the transgression might increase (here he's talking about the law of Moses); but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." We were under the law, we were guilty because of the law, but then God brought His grace in through Jesus Christ and grace reigns. Then look at chapter 6, verse 4: “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death (not talking about water baptism, but talking about when the Holy Spirit ‑ when we receive Christ, the Holy Spirit places us into Christ, He placed us into His death), in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." He's comparing to ‑ there was death, and now there's life. Death. Life. Verse 14 of chapter 6: “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.” And then in chapter 7, verse 6: “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” And then he comes to here in verse 2 of chapter 8: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” Here he is again ‑ he's just declaring the gospel. He's declaring what happened for us to be justified ‑ that we had to be freed from the law, that we were dead under the law, and that we had to be given newness of life. And that's what happens.

Some claim that Paul is introducing what is referred to as a second blessing experience ‑ that once a person is justified in Christ they need to have a second experience ‑ the baptism of the Holy Spirit so they can then walk the Christian life. What they're saying is there are two different types of Christians. Well, that is a wrong interpretation of this passage; it's a wrong interpretation of this chapter, and it's a false doctrine. It's a false doctrine. We receive the Holy Spirit the moment we are put into Christ because it's the Holy Spirit who places us into Christ. And so the moment that we are placed in Christ we, at that moment, receive every blessing that's possible for us to receive. There is no second blessing. The moment we are justified, the sanctification process begins. We don't need a second blessing. We don't need a baptism of the Holy Spirit because we have been baptized the moment we are placed into Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 it says “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” And that baptism is when we are placed into Christ. That is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The moment you place your faith in Jesus Christ you have been baptized into Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, and then the Holy Spirit comes into you. In Ephesians 1:13‑14, it says “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation ‑ having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.” After listening to the message of truth ‑ the gospel of your salvation ‑ having also believed, you were then sealed. It doesn't say "having listened and then believed you were then justified and then you had to get another baptism so you could receive the Holy Spirit." That's not the process. You listen to the gospel truth. You believe ‑ it's the Holy Spirit who's quickening you to believe, He places you into Christ, and you are thus filled with the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5‑6 says “He saved us (God saved us), not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”

Here in verse 2 we see the Holy Spirit's work in the salvation process. It takes the entire godhead to save us. The entire trinity is involved in our justification, so here in this passage we're not being introduced to a new Christian experience. The Apostle Paul is simply stating the Holy Spirit's involvement with our salvation. It's the Holy Spirit who places us in Christ. Dr. Lloyd Jones says this: "The gospel has freed us. And the gospel frees us through the Spirit. The work of salvation planned by God the Father and carried out by the Son is applied to us by the Holy Spirit. We are not justified by or in the Spirit, but in the Son. How does that life of Christ come into us? The answer is by the Holy Spirit. One of the chief results of our being in Christ is that the Spirit is now in us. Because the Spirit that was in Christ is now in us."

There's no second blessing. Don't be duped by that. Don't be deceived. There are so many defeated Christians because they believe that. They believe they need that second blessing. They don't need a second blessing because when you believe that false teaching, you're saying that God's salvation is not sufficient. It's a false teaching. Don't be duped by it. Now, love your brothers ‑ I believe many of those who hold that teaching are saved ‑ they're just deceived. And they're deceiving others. Love them. Just love them. The center point is the cross and the gospel. You don't need a second blessing. You have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. You just have to believe it. You have to believe it.

"For the law of the Spirit of life in ‑ IN ‑ Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." When we were placed in Christ by the Holy Spirit ‑ and we're placed in Christ by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Not by anything we do. When that happens, at that very moment, you are set free from guilt and condemnation. You have been given the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Notice in here he says "has set you free." It's a done deal. He doesn't say "is going to set you free" or "is setting you free" or "will set you free sometime in the future." He has set you free. Well how'd this come about? I want us to look at five things. We're going to look at the law, at what God did, why God did it, who benefits from it, and the results ‑ the results of this Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus that sets us free from the law of sin and death.

The Law: What It Could and Could Not Do

Let's look at the law here in verse 3. He goes on to say "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, " Well what could the law not do? I think the best way for us to understand this is by asking what we needed due to our sin.

Two things that we need because of our sin. The first thing we need is to be delivered from the guilt, from the punishment, of our sin ‑ that our sin rightfully deserves. We need to be freed from that. We need to be delivered from the guilt and the punishment of our sin. The second need we have because of our sin is to be clothed with the righteousness of God. Why? So that we can stand before God with confidence so we can enter His throne of grace, so we can have fellowship with Him. This is where the false teaching of the second blessing comes in, because they say the first thing happens when you put your faith in Christ and the second thing happens when you have the second baptism, which is not true.

First we need to be delivered and forgiven for our sin, and then we need to be clothed with the righteousness of God. The law could do neither of these. You see the law shows us God's righteousness, and in showing us God's righteousness, we see how far we fall short. It condemns us, it punishes us, it declares us guilty, but the law cannot free us from our guilt. It cannot do that. Why couldn't it do it?

It says “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh.” The weakness is not in the law. The weakness is in the flesh. The law is good. The law is strong. The law points us to and declares to us the holiness and righteousness of God. It's not the law that's weak; it's the flesh that is weak. In order for the law to produce righteousness in us, the law had to work through us, and it can't, because we're weak. To illustrate ‑ how many of you have ever used a shovel? You have a nice spade, and that spade is made out of nice, solid, hard iron, and you're digging up some ground, you're digging up some dirt, and maybe you got a nice rock buried in the ground. And you put that spade underneath that rock and you start yanking on it, and you start yanking on it, trying to get that rock out of the ground. And you start yanking on it, and all of sudden, what happens? SNAP! That handle breaks. Well was the problem in the spade? No! The problem was in the handle. The handle was weak and the handle could not take the pressure and the strength of the law. You see, we are the handle. The law is the spade. The spade is good, the law is good. The law is strong. But the handle is weak and the handle can't handle it ‑ the spade, and the law. It was weak in the flesh. The law points us to God, it convicts us of our unrighteousness, and it condemns us, but it's not able to help us. It's not able, because we're powerless to use it. So “what the law could not do, weak as it was in the flesh, God did.”

What God Did

Well what did God do? This section of what God did is rich with great doctrinal truth. I realize that we are a people who want to know what to do. We want to know what to do. Many of you are reading through the Discipleship Group reading plan. Now in the last couple of weeks you've been reading through Romans. You should have finished Romans. Now when you got to Romans chapter 12‑16, you probably got really excited about that reading because of all the practical things to do. And when you read the first 11 chapters you might have been thinking "Yea, so what? So what?" And then you got to Chapter 12 and you thought "Oh, yea! I can do this! I can do this!" Well, you can't do 12‑16 unless you understand 1‑11. Because 12‑16 ‑ those chapters which are how Christians should live ‑ are based on the doctrinal truth of chapters 1‑11. And so it's not a "so what?" It's a "if I don't get this, I'm not going to be able to live it."

This next verse ‑ this next section ‑ is so rich with doctrinal truth. In these next 24 words, we see truths that are imperative to a right understanding of the gospel. Truths that we should be willing to die for. That's how serious these truths are. Truths that men and women who have gone before us have died for. Here we see in these 24 words the God-centeredness of the gospel. We see the deity of Jesus Christ, His incarnation and virgin birth, Christ's atonement for our sin, the centrality of the cross; and our redemption and justification. In 24 words. Truths that are essential to the Christian faith.

“For what the law could not do, weak as it was in the flesh, God did.” God did. Those are two very important words. It doesn't say, "man did." It doesn't say, "man accomplished through his efforts or work." God did. Here we see that salvation is all of God and nothing of us. Don't let those words just pass through your head. It's crucial we are having shoved down our throats today in Christianity a man‑centered gospel. "What's in it for me?" "Christ is going to make your life so good and so wonderful and so precious that when you give your life to Christ here on earth you just ask Him for anything and He'll give it all to you." Not necessarily so. He's going to give you life ‑ life abundantly. But do you know how that life may have to come here on earth? Through a lot of suffering. Through a lot of sacrifice. To complete His work in us. That's why we deceive people when we tell them "Oh, just give your life to Jesus Christ and your life will be all better." Because it may not be! I'm sure there are testimonies of when you gave your life to Christ. Yea, it was better because you then had the peace of God within you and you knew in your heart of hearts that you were no longer an enemy of God, but then your life around you started falling apart. People started leaving you. People started despising you. People started laughing at you and mocking you. That's better? Humanly speaking it's not. That's a man‑centered gospel when we deceive people to think their life's going to be a bed of roses after giving themselves to Christ, because it may not be. A person may give their life to Christ, as thousands of people do around the world. We are so spoiled as Americans, saints. So spoiled. Because there are thousands of people around the world who give their life to Jesus Christ, and they're not giving their life so their life will get better. They're giving their life to Christ because they know they're sinners, they know they've sinned against a holy God, and they know that God offers salvation to them through Jesus Christ, and they know that the moment they do that, they may die. Physically. And many do. In Hindu countries. In Muslim countries. In Islam. Many people die the moment they give their life to Jesus Christ. But you know what? They're not weeping over it. They're rejoicing because they're with the Savior.

Here we see a God‑centered gospel. The God‑centeredness of the gospel, because only a God‑centered gospel is full of hope. Only a God‑centered gospel is full of security. Why? Because it's all based on God. Any time we introduce some false teaching that our salvation is dependent upon us ‑ even when we enter into the thing that our glory is dependent upon us ‑ that is a man‑centered gospel. And a man‑centered gospel has no hope. It has no future, because it's all dependent upon us. We're going to fail. We're going to fall. God won't. Only a God‑centered gospel has hope and has a future. God did. God did. Well what did He do?

“Sending His own Son.” His own Son. These words are so crucial because here we have before us the deity of Jesus Christ. His own Son. Now, many of you know John 3:16. That is a very crucial verse. It says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” Not created Son, but begotten Son. All of those who are in Christ are sons of God. We are created sons of God. But we are sons through adoption. Adoption. What does that mean? That means there was a time when we weren't His sons, until we were adopted. Jesus Christ is His only begotten son. What's that mean? That means Jesus Christ is of God. He wasn't created by God. He is of God, has always been of God, will always be of God, He is GOD! His own son. Here we see the deity of Jesus Christ. Men are created. Women are created. The angels were created. Jesus Christ was not created. Jesus Christ always was. He gave His own son. He gave of Himself. He didn't have to create a person, because that wouldn't suffice. A person couldn't do it. He couldn't come to one of us and say, "You've got to be the one." It wouldn't work. It wouldn't work. Here we see the deity of Jesus Christ.

“In the likeness of sinful flesh.” Here we see the incarnation. Here we see God that the incarnation of God is a fact. Christ, the second person of the Trinity, took on a human body, a real flesh human body. Not has always been a phantom body, like some religions say ‑ "he was just a phantom; it was just the spirit of Christ that came upon this person, just as that spirit of Christ went on Mohammed and Buddha and all these other people." It wasn't a phantom body, it was a real, fleshly, human body, but there was a difference. Notice it says there "in the likeness of sinful flesh." What does that mean? It means that He had a human body but He did not take on the sinful nature. Here we see the virgin birth. If He had had the sinful nature, His sacrifice would have been invalid. He had a human body, and because He had a human body, He had to deal with the problems we experience in our humanness because of sin. Sickness. Disease. Fatigue. Tiredness. That's why it says in Hebrews that He's able to sympathize with our weaknesses, having been tempted in all things. He's able to sympathize because He had to deal with the human body that was under the confinements of sin, but He did not have the sinful nature. He did not have the sinful nature. He had our appearance. He had all the human organs and fleshliness. But He didn't have the sinful nature. Why is that? Because the seed of Adam was not passed onto Him. There we see the virgin birth. Mary was conceived with child by the Holy Spirit. If you say that Christ had a sinful nature, then you're saying that God has a sinful nature. And that's not true. That's blasphemy. There are religions that promote that. Here we see the virgin birth. In the likeness of sinful flesh. This had to happen because this is the only way that God could silence Satan and this is the only way that God could be declared just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus Christ.

“And as an offering for sin.” Here we see Christ's atoning sacrifice for our sin. This is why God sent His only begotten son. To be an offering for our sin. In Hebrews 10, we're told every priest stands daily, ministering an offering time after time, offering sacrifices that can never take away sins, but He (referring to Christ), having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. He was an offering for sin, and in doing so, He condemned sin in the flesh. Here we see the centrality of the cross, because there is where our sin was condemned, our sin was punished. Jesus Christ ‑ when it says He condemned sin in the flesh ‑ Jesus Christ took our sin. Jesus Christ took our punishment, our condemnation upon Himself. There, at the cross, when He condemned sin in the flesh ‑ there, the wrath of God, which was rightly directed toward us ‑ rightly we deserve that wrath ‑ there at the cross Christ took that wrath of God. That's why this is good news. Because we don't have to endure God's wrath. Well why did God do it? Why did God do all this?

Why God Did It

It says in verse 4: “in order that the requirement (or righteousness ‑ that's what the requirement of the Law is) of the Law might be fulfilled in us.” Simply put, folks, if Christ hadn't done what He did, if God hadn't done what He did through Jesus Christ, we would have no hope. We would be forever lost in our sin, and the only thing that we'd have to look ahead to is an eternal condemnation. But, it says “in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.” Dr. Lloyd Jones says this: "What this means, is that the Law can no longer make any claim upon us. The righteous demands of the Law have been satisfied in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Law demands obedience. Christ gave it perfectly. The Law insists on punishing sin. Christ has borne the punishment. The righteous demands of the Law have all been fulfilled in Him." If Christ hadn't done that, then the demands of the Law would still be upon us. And you would be under condemnation. Rightfully so.

Now there may be some of you who are feeling condemned ‑ some of you who haven't been put into Christ, and some of you who have been put into Christ who are still feeling condemned. And, if you're not in Christ, you are condemned until that happens. But if you are in Christ, there is no condemnation, because Christ took it all. That's what He did. He fulfilled the requirement. Every demand of God's holy Law has been fulfilled in you through Jesus Christ. You have to grab a hold of this. He did it.

"For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us." Now who is this "in us"? Who benefits from this?

Who Benefits From It

Paul closes in verse 4 “who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Here, again, is where people bring in an erroneous doctrine, because they believe "now, at this point, this can only be fulfilled in those who live a life that is pleasing to God." That's not true. It's backwards. We can only live a life that's pleasing to God if this has been fulfilled in us. You see what I'm saying? There are those who say this can only be fulfilled if we live a life that's pleasing to God according to the Spirit. That's how they define it. But the truth that Paul is saying God is declaring to us is that we can only live a life pleasing to God IF this has been fulfilled in us. There's a big difference. This is primarily talking about our salvation, not our Christian walk, although they are very tightly connected, because we can't have a Christian walk unless this happens.

This verse points us back to Romans 7. At the end of the chapter, in Romans 7:24‑25, as Paul is giving this discourse about the Law and how it's condemning him and how he feels guilty under it, he cries out “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” That's what he's talking about, here. He's talking about "I can't save myself ‑ only God can." God did ‑ through Jesus Christ. And he says, "according to the Spirit" ‑ the Spirit is the one who reveals it to us. He convicts us of our sin and He points us to Christ. It's the Spirit regenerating us, showing us our need, and showing us the Savior. We recognize those who benefit from it as those who don't try to obtain salvation through fleshly means, through man‑centeredness, through good works ‑ they obtain salvation through faith alone. By faith alone, in Christ alone. He's not declaring here that only if you're walking in the Spirit that you have no condemnation. He's stating that only those who have recognized their need for Christ and the Spirit are the ones who have to open their eyes to it ‑ only those are the ones who have the requirement of the Law fulfilled in them. Only those.

Again, in Titus 3:5, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” God did all the work, and you get all the benefits. It's a God‑centered gospel. That's a Godcentered gospel. What man would come up with that gospel? If you look at any man‑made religion, every man‑made religion allows there to be a boasting in that man, because of what they do ‑ because they obtain some righteousness through their lifestyle and their self‑declared holiness. But here God is saying "folks, there's nothing you can do. I did it all. I did all the work, you get all the benefits." Nobody can boast in that. All we can do is give the glory to God for it. And so, what's the result.

The Result

Let's look at verse 1. The result is that “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Here we have the believer's motivation. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. No condemnation. Not some condemnation. Not there'll be a little condemnation in the future. Not when you blow it and hit head first on the ground because you stumbled then God's going to condemn you. No there is NO ‑ there will never be ANY condemnation. Christ took the condemnation that we rightfully deserved ‑ He took it all upon Himself. That is the glorious good news of a happy God! There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No matter what you have done. No matter what happens in the future. There is no condemnation. Because the requirement of the Law has been fulfilled in you, through Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as a result, we are free from punishment and we are free from guilt, because we are clothed with His righteousness. No matter what you do. If you are in Christ Jesus, you are clothed with His righteousness. He sees you through the nail‑pierced hands of His Son Jesus Christ and declares you righteous, no matter what happens. There's no condemnation. First Corinthians tells us “but by His ‑ by God's doing ‑ you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” God did it all. You did nothing, and because God did it, He (Christ) has become to you righteousness, sanctification, redemption. And therefore, there is no condemnation.

We have got to grab a hold of this truth. This truth is so crucial to our understanding of who we are in Christ and what He's done. It's so crucial for us to live a life that's victorious, because if we don't grab a hold of this truth, we will always live a life of defeat because we'll think that the gospel ‑ the Christian life ‑ is dependent upon us. And it's not dependent upon you. I can prove that, because no one here can live the Christian life in and of themselves. That's why we need forgiveness. That's why we need His grace that clothes us with His righteousness despite our shortcomings, so that we can stand before Him, so we can enter boldly into His throne of grace. We don't enter boldly because we've done something good. We enter boldly because of the blood of the Lamb covers us. No matter what we do.

If we grab a hold of this truth, we will have the motivation to walk victoriously. If we don't, we'll live lives in defeat, and we'll be constantly condemning ourselves for all of our failures. When we do that ‑ when you condemn yourself, Christian, for your failures ‑ you are doing something to yourself that God does not do. God does not condemn you when you stumble and fall, so how dare you? How dare you condemn yourself? You are taking upon yourself something that God does not even do. God doesn't condemn you. He clothes you with His righteousness and His grace and His forgiveness. The fact that there is no condemnation is not based on our experience; it's based on the finished work of Jesus Christ on that cross, and there's nothing that can change that. That's why there's security.

Different attributes of God cause different responses in us. This attribute is so crucial to our victorious life.

* The glory of God awes us.

* The holiness of God should terrify us.

* The presence of God should sober us.

* The power of God protects us.

* The truth of God sustains us, and

* The sovereignty of God should comfort us.

But, it's the love of God that motivates us, and only the love of God. If you don't grab a hold of this crucial truth that there is no condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus, you will never walk victoriously, because you're going to be constantly focused on yourself. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that “the love of Christ controls me, having concluded this, that one died for all and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” Only when we know the love of God will we be able to have the victory that He wants us to have, because we see that it's all on Him, and not on us. It's not dependent upon what I do or don't do; it's dependent upon what He has done and what He has finished. God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Why do think that now that we are saved and we blow it that God's going to take it away? If He died for us when we were enemies of Him, how dare we think that if we sin now that we're in Christ that He's going to take our salvation away? Nothing could be farther from the truth. We are secure in Christ, and if you're in Christ and have been enveloped by this truth and this love and you've come to see even a glimpse of the sunshine coming through the clouds; if you've come to understand that there is no condemnation because you're in Christ Jesus, you're going to start feeling the power to live as God wants you to live. Because you're free to please Him, not based on your efforts, but based on His finished work.

Now some may question "Isn't this teaching really just teaching us to be careless and cold and callous and brazen and blatant in our sin?" No. No. Nothing could be farther from the truth, because if you're gripped by the love of God, the last thing ‑ the last thing ‑ that you're going to want to do is sin. Let me try to explain this.

The difference is like when you break the law ...you sin against the law and you sin against a close friend or a family member. Now, when you sin against the law, what happens? When you're caught doing something ‑ whether it be speeding or whatever ‑ what happens? You're guilty. You've broken the law, and you have to pay the fine. And usually you're upset because you got caught. Right? "I didn't know that cop was there." When you sin against the law, you break the law. But when you sin against a close friend or a family member, what do you do there? You haven't broken the law ‑ you've broken their heart. There's a big difference. A big difference. You see when we break the law, we just sin against the law. But when we sin against God, we break His heart, because He knows we don't have to do that if we would just look to Jesus Christ. He doesn't condemn us for doing that ‑ He loves us all the more. He says, "My dear and precious child, if you would only look. If you would only look to Me and know that there's no condemnation." And what makes it worse is once you have sinned, then you sit in this pity party for days and weeks condemning yourself. And that breaks His heart all the more, because you're not believing this truth that if you are in Christ Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation. So don't condemn yourself.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” Forever. Done deal. There's nothing more to be done. If you are in Christ it's a done deal and you need to believe it ‑ that there is now no condemnation. Dr. Lloyd Jones says this: "You cannot be a Christian without this being true of you." You cannot be a Christian without this being true of you. If you are in Christ, there is therefore now no condemnation. So if you're in Christ, you need to believe that. If you're not in Christ, you rightfully are condemned and you need to get in Christ. And right now, if there are some of you today who aren't in Christ and the Holy Spirit's revealing that to you, you just simply need to surrender yourself to Him and the finished work on the cross that He did for you. God did it, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin, and He condemned your sin in the flesh.

Saints, if you don't believe this truth, it's not me you're not believing, it's God you're not believing. If you don't believe that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, then you simply do not know the love of God. And my prayer is that you would get to know it and grab a hold of it, because only as you know His love ‑ His immense love for you ‑ only then will you have the motivation and power to live a life that's pleasing to Him, because you'll realize it's not dependent upon you, it's dependent upon Him, and He's done it. He's finished it. There is therefore now no condemnation. Let's pray.

Father God, grant all of us, by the richness of Your glory, Your grace, and by Your power, to be strengthened in our innermost being by your Holy Spirit, to know and to grab a hold of this glorious truth that there is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. Father help us, even in our frailty, to comprehend the greatness of your love, to comprehend its height, its depth, its width, its length ‑ to know the love of Christ, your love for us. Father, by the power of your Holy Spirit, open our eyes and send the light of Your hope down into the deepest, darkest part of our being and dispel the darkness, with Your light, with Your truth, the truth that we are secure in Christ and that for those of us who are in Christ, there is no condemnation. There is none, there never will be. Lord, thank you that we are secure in You. Help us grab a hold of this truth and to recognize that the life You call us to live is not dependent upon us; it's done by you. We just need to look to you. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Father God, what glorious truth this is. For Your glory alone. In Jesus' name. Amen.

By God's Grace ~ Through God's Word ~ For God's Glory!

Chuck Long

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