283 – THE BELIEVER’S SANCTUARY
JANUARY 3, 1965
PASTOR HENRY F KULP
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.”
As we come to this wonderful portion of Scripture that opens up with no condemnation, and closes with no separation, we have a marvelous truth in the first verse, and I want you to understand it in all its beauty.
1/ I believe that the division of chapters here would have been far better, if they had had the first four verses of chapter 8 in with chapter 7. I am going to change the word, condemnation to the word, judgment, for it is translated from the same word that we get the word, judgment, and you get a better idea of the verse if you say, there is therefore now no judgment to those who are in Christ Jesus. Did you know that your judgment day is passed? There is no judgment day for you if you are saved. Your judgment day is gone. You say, no judgment day for me? That is exactly what this verse is teaching. There is no judgment day for the believer.
2/ Let me ask you a question. How can there be judgment for those who have been justified? I repeat so that you might remember this—justification—IS AN ACT OF GOD WHEREBY HE DECLARES AN UNGODLY MAN TO BE PERFECT WHILE HE IS STILL UNGODLY. Romans 4: 5. ”But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Romans 4: 17. “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” God counteth the things that are not as though they were.
3/ Now notice a time-word in our text. It is the word, now. There is therefore now no judgment. To think that there would be no condemnation, no judgment for us in the future would be wonderful. But the truth of the text is that we have no judgment at this present time. At this very moment, there is no judgment against us. Do you realize it is impossible for God, Himself, to find a flaw in the righteous position of any believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?
If a stumbling drunkard went into a rescue mission an hour ago, and was made alive in Jesus Christ by receiving Him as his Savior, there is no judgment for him in this moment. He may have his headache, and it may continue for some hours—but there is no judgment for him at that present time.
Take the Philippine jailor—the instant he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, there was no judgment against him. Even though he had held a suicide sword just a few moments before.
Acts 16: 27. “And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.”
4/ When you come to a full realization of this truth it should make you shout for joy. Did you ever watch humanity on TV, perhaps 100,000 strong, as a member of a team they are rooting for, runs for a touchdown in the last 30 seconds of a football game? And wins it, as the stadium goes up in one great mighty roar of approval and of joy. If it can happen for a mere thing like a football game, what should this do for us? Or did you watch the TV on the last election evening, when a candidate won, the people around him would scream for joy. How should we scream for joy when we know there is no judgment for us. I have never gone to a racetrack, but I can imagine how people will shout for joy when they win $50 on a horse race, or if somebody realizes some money has been left to them, the ecstasy that is in their hearts. This should be a great motivation, there is no judgment for them who are in Christ Jesus.
5/ This first verse in the Greek is almost startling in its declaration—the negative is much stronger than the ordinary word used for “no” or “not”. It is an emphatic form—rendered even more emphatic in that it is the word used for the beginning of the sentence. It is also interesting to note that there are two common words in Greek for the negative. “ou” and “me”. There are times in the Bible when both of these words are used together—ou and me. In the Gospels this double form of absolute negative is used five times on the lips of men. And each time we see that men are mistaken—
Matthew 16: 22. “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.”
Here Peter told the Lord He would not die, but He did die. Again, Peter used this double, emphatic negative when he said, I will not deny Thee.
Matthew 26: 35. “Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.”
But he did. However, when the Lord Jesus Christ uses this double negative, and He uses it on 46 occasions, we can be sure that what He says is true. When God says a thing is positive, we can be sure that it is positive.
Matthew 24: 34, 35. “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
Jesus said, My Word shall not pass away, and they shall not pass away. How vain it is on the part of man to deny the words of Jesus Christ, and these words of Paul in Romans 8: 1. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” These are the words of Jesus Christ.
6/ Notice why there is no judgment for the believer. Because we are in Christ Jesus. Just as this morning, we are in a building, in the building called the Altoona Bible Church, and it is a place, just so, everyone who is saved is in a place, and that is in Christ.
7/ There is absolutely nothing for you to be judged. Because your sins were judged in Christ. In Christ, you are in a place where judgment has already fallen. It cannot fall again. It is your safety in Christ. God judged Jesus Christ, He judged Him as He was made sin, and God is not going to judge that sin a second time, and when you are in Christ, you are in a place of judgment, where judgment has already fallen—in past tense. And you cannot be judged again.
8/ Let us look at this matter of Christ being judged for our sins. Paul is the Apostle of the Cross. I don’t know whether you have ever noticed or not, but the word, cross, does not appear in the Epistles except in the Pauline epistles.
When Peter speaks of the crucifixion, he says, He bare our sins in His own body on the tree. I Peter 2: 24. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
Notice in the Book of Acts. Acts 5: 30 and Peter answers, “The God of our Father raised up Jesus Whom ye slew and hanged on the tree.” And then Acts 10: 39. “And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:” Acts 13: 29 where they said, they took Him down from the tree. “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.”
But Paul uses the word, cross, and strange to say, Paul doesn’t tell us anything about the cross. That is the literal cross. Paul tells us nothing of what happened at Calvary. He does not speak of the five wounds of Christ, He does not speak of the crown of thorns, the last seven words of Jesus Christ, that are peached so much in the Easter season, Paul never mentions. The salvation of the thief, Paul doesn’t tell us about him. He gives us nothing of the details of the cross, and yet, he preaches the cross. He is the Apostle of the cross. Because the cross to Paul was not a piece of wood, with which the cross was made. The cross to Paul is that which Jesus Christ accomplished when He died, and that is what the Apostle Paul tells you about.
9/ But now we have an important point. Nevertheless, But Paul tells you what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. The four Gospels give you the record of the crucifixion, but not one of the four Gospels tells you what it meant. It is Paul who tells us the meaning of the cross, and the cross to Paul is what Christ accomplished when He died—not the literal cross. The literal cross has been brought into prominence, they put a cross up in the churches. They make gold crosses and women hang them around their necks, but that isn’t salvation. Salvation is what Jesus Christ did at Calvary—what He accomplished. To worship the literal cross is wrong. To make the literal cross the prominent thing, is wrong. It is idolatry.
10/ In the Old Testament when people were dying by thousands in the camp in Israel, God told Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it on the pole, and everyone who looked on the serpent of brass was healed immediately.
Numbers 21: 4, 5, 6 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.”
The people spoke against God, and God sent the fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people and much people of Israel died, then God told Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole and everybody who looked on that serpent of brass was healed immediately.
Numbers 21: 8. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”
But the people kept that serpent of brass—they kept it for 800 years. They worshipped it, and there was no man in all Israel for 800 years, who dared to tell them about their idolatry—that is, until Hezekiah came. Hezekiah took that serpent of brass and he ground it to powder, and he strewed it upon the waters, and he said, it is Ne-hush’-tan, which means, nothing.
11/ II Kings 18: 4. “He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.”
You dare not put anything between yourself and God. What we need to know is what Jesus Christ did. Even many who call themselves Fundamentalists do not understand what Jesus Christ did. He bore the penalty of sin, He accomplished something, because he was judged for us that we might not be judged. There is no judgment left unto us.
AMEN
Ref: 01/03/1965 / 283 - THE BELIEVER’S SANCTUARY / June 7, 2020
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