Romans 8: 1 - 4 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath 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 sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
We have come to this marvelous portion of Scripture that opens with no condemnation, no judgment day, and ends with no separation. Several years ago, a famous preacher asked a number of outstanding Bible teachers and preachers what their favorite chapter in the Bible was—he realized that asking them to make a choice was something like asking a father to choose his favorite child—nevertheless, he preachers were asked this question. If each of them were to be wrecked on a dessert island, and if there was to be but a single chapter of the Bible washed up in the wreckage, what chapter would they like it to be? Five out of the 20 who replied choose the 8th chapter of Romans. Perhaps it is your favorite, for it is a marvelous portion of Scripture, and we want to study it very carefully.
1/ God, in Chapter 6 tells us because of our position, what and how we are to live. He tells us in Romans 6: 12 that sin is not to reign in our mortal bodies. We are not to yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness, as military arms or weapons of unrighteousness unto sin. Then He says in the 14th vs. “Sin shall not have dominion over you,” and then in Chapter 7 Paul shows us that we cannot have this position, we cannot walk this certain way, because the believer is harassed by his inability to keep the law. In Chapter 7 the Holy Spirit is not mentioned, but the sinful, first personal pronoun, I, the carnal man, fills the scene.
Notice Romans 7: 15 “For that which I do, I allow not, for what I would not, that I do. But what I hate, that do I.” I, I, is throughout this entire chapter but when we come to the 8th Chapter the picture is entirely different. In the 8th Chapter over and over again we have the Holy Spirit, and He is named twenty-seven (27) times--He is mentioned or referred to directly, or indirectly in this one chapter. What a contrast between chapter 7 and 8. From defeat to victory. From despair to hope. This is the Holy Spirit’s message for us today.
2/ Notice, to start with, there is no condemnation, and last week we changed that word, condemnation, to judgment. So, there is no judgment day ahead for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. His judgment day was 2,000 years ago on the Cross of Calvary. The Greek is most startling in its declaration. There is a double negative in this Scripture. The negative is much stronger than the ordinary word used for “no” or “not.” It is interesting to notice that there are two common words in Greek for the negative, OU and ME and in this Scripture, we have here, we have both of these common words for the negative.
There is a double negative, making it strong. There are times, however, when both of these words are used together—OU and ME—and in the Gospels, this double form of absolute negative form is used five times on the lips of men, and if we study those five times, we will find that in each instance the men were mistaken. It was a verbal negative that Peter used in Matthew 16: 22 when he told the Lord that He should not die. This shall not be unto Thee—but it was. Matthew 26: 35 again Peter used this double emphatic negative when he said, “I will not deny Thee.” But he did. On the other hand, our Lord Jesus Christ used this double negative on 46 occasions and in all 46 passages you will see that everything the Lord prophesied in these instances was absolutely true.
For instance, Matthew 24: 34, 35 where He said, “My Word shall not pass away,” and we know that His Words have not passed away, nor will they ever pass away. And when Paul says here that there is therefore now no condemnation, and he uses the double negative—we cannot possibly land in condemnation. We cannot possibly ever come before a judgment day, before sin.
3/ But you say, isn’t it possible that you will sin and do something that will cause you to lose your salvation and cause you to come into condemnation and you will have to appear at the Great White Throne Judgment? No, for all my sins have been paid for—past, present and future.
There was a little girl who applied for membership in the church she was attending. She had to appear before a group of dignified elders who questioned her about her faith. One of them said, “What are you trusting in for salvation?” The little girl replied, “I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He died for my sins, and that He rose again for my justification.” The elder stroked his whiskers and asked again—“You have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, but does the devil ever knock at your door?” The little girl, with a look of assurance answered, “Yes, Satan knocks at my heart’s door, and when he does, I say to Christ--and you know He lives in me, the Lord lives in me, and I ask Him, “Will You open the door?” And when He goes to the door, and Satan sees Him, Satan always says, “Pardon me, but I knocked at the wrong door.” It is Christ who opens and closes the door of salvation.
4/ But in Vs. 2 – 4 we see two laws in contrast. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Here the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Life, because He is the One Who creates in the sinner, new life in Christ Jesus. He is the One Who gives us deliverance by giving us life. Do you remember Paul agonizing in prayer—“O, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?” Here is the answer—the Holy Spirit—the One Who gives life.
5/ The other law is the law of sin and death. We have been talking about that for quite a while now. The law of sin and death is not the Mosaic Law, although the Mosaic Law can be placed in here if you want to, but the law of sin and death started in the Garden of Eden. When man sinned, death came upon all men—and so the law of sin and death is operating in every believer. You can’t help sinning, and you certainly can’t keep from dying. Sooner or later, death will reach out and claim you.
6/ This law of sin and death is operating, as we said, in everyone’s life, but when one turns to Jesus Christ as his sin sacrifice, a new law is brought into being—the law of Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. So, it is the law of life. It is the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus that has made us free from the law of sin and death. So, therefore, there is no condemnation.
7/ An illustration can be drawn from the passage of the children of Israel through the Red Sea.
Exodus 14: 21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
The law of gravity was working to keep the waters of that sea in their bed. When the moment came for the Lord to show His deliverance, the new principle of the blowing East Wind entered the picture. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong East Wind, all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. The law of gravity was pulling these waters down just as much as ever. The law of gravity was still working. But the law of the East Wind made the children of Israel free from the law of gravity which could put the waters over them, as it did the wicked Egyptians.
So it is, that the law of sin and death in our lives can pull in but one direction, and that is to death. But the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, blows its force against the law of sin and death, and we are free from it, and there is no condemnation to us who are in Christ Jesus.
8/ The other day I thought of another good illustration. I started to the hospital to make my calls, for we have a number of our folks in the Altoona Hospital, and as I got out of the car, I saw a small plane flying above me, and since I have always loved planes and flying, I looked at myself, and I looked at my foot, as I picked my right foot up, put it down, picked my left foot up, put it down, and I said, My, I would like to be up there, but the law of gravitation kept me on the ground. Then I went into the hospital, hung my coat up on a rack there, I entered the elevator, pushed the button for the fourth floor, and the elevator took me up. The law of gravity was still working. But there was another law, a greater law now working—the law of electricity. This law was stronger than that of gravity, it overcame, it nullified, it counter-acted the law of gravitation. So, it is, as a sinner, I am bound by the law of sin and death, it has been passed down to me in Adam. But the moment I receive Christ as my Saviour, the law of the Spirit of Life counteracted, overcame, was stronger than that of sin and death, and now there is no condemnation, no judgment day for me in Christ Jesus.
9/ I thought yet of another illustration of this truth, perhaps this illustration will help. There is on the ground a little worm crawling—we call it a caterpillar. It has freedom to crawl about, but it has no power to rise up in the air. It cannot lift itself above the ground, it has to stay there because of the law of gravitation. But after a while, it encases itself in a cocoon, then after a certain period, that little caterpillar that went in there came out and it became a beautiful butterfly—it spread its winds, and it didn’t have to stay on the earth anymore. It mounted up, and you say, what ever became of the law of gravitation? The law of gravitation is still there. But another law came in. It was the law of those little wings, that have the power to propel it up into the air, so it could have the power to rise above the earth, and so another law has come into being. We were like that caterpillar, wicked, corrupt, calling out, “O, wretched man, what can I do?” Absolutely nothing, but we became saved, and we were put in Christ and we became a new creation, and now we are heavenly bound, and all our condemnation is gone—a new law has taken place in our life.
10/ Now notice, the fact about not having condemnation. Why don’t we have a judgment day? Why have we been made free from the law of sin and death, and how have we been made free? The answer is in the 3rd vs. “God sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”
Notice, first of all, that God sent His Son. I know we pass over that little phrase so often—God sent His Son. But it was so important that Jesus said, “I did not come of Myself”, and 40 times in the Book of John He said, “My Father sent Me.” He was the Sent One.
11/ Have you ever noticed, John 17? He tells us five times that He was sent by His Father. His Father said, Go, and He went, and, of course, it meant Calvary. The Father could have kept Him in Heaven. He was in the bosom of the Father and all the love of God was on Him—but the Father said, Go, and He went.
12/ Then, notice, God sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. You will notice the word, likeness, God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. His flesh was not sinful. He was like us in everything but sin. He was infinitely holy.
I Timothy 3: 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
It tells us, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh. That is a mystery—how the Son of God could be born into this world as we are born, apart from sin, I cannot understand it, But I accept it as truth.
13/ Luke 1: 35 The angel is talking to Mary, and the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore, also that holy Thing.
That little body that was born was a holy Thing. It was infinitely holy. His flesh has no taint of sin. But will you notice, He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh.
14/ God sending His Own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. And you will notice, that means, as an offering for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. He became an offering for sin. Where? In His flesh. He had flesh without sin, we have flesh with sin.
15/ Where does God judge sin? We are told right here—in the flesh. We, of course, have sinned, and if God judges sin in our flesh, then we are lost forever.
Revelations 20: 11, 12 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Notice this great judgment day of the unsaved. They are resurrected from the dead, and they are judged in their flesh. But we will not be here to be judged, because we will not be judged for sin. Our judgment day is passed.
16/ Our judgement day is passed, because Jesus Christ was judged in the flesh for our sins.
I Peter 2: 4 Who His own self, bare our sins, in His own body on the tree.” Notice, it isn’t the preposition “on”, but it is the preposition “in”. Who His own self, bare our sins in His own body. He took our sin that was in our flesh, and it was put in His flesh. In His flesh, He suffered for us.
17/ He had to have a body of flesh, and God gave it to Him, and in that body, He was judged for our sin.
18/ Deuteronomy 21: 22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
Here it says, If a man hath committed a sin worthy of death, he shall be put to death, and Thou shalt hang him on a tree. His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but thou shalt in anywise bury him that day, (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Christ was handed on a tree—He was accursed of God; it says this here. If a man has committed a sin that is worthy of death, there is no other punishment that will suffice but death. And he was to be hanged on a tree and buried the same day, less he be a curse to the land, and that is exactly what Jesus Christ became. He took our sins in His body and bore the curse, and so now we do not have to face any judgment day. Our judgment day was on the cross of Calvary 2,000 years ago.
AMEN
Ref: 01/10/1965 / 284 – THE BELIEVER’S JUDGMENT DAY / 06/07/2020
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