No Condemnation

Introduction

I’m going to start this morning with what might be an odd question, but that is have you ever stood condemned? You ever stood before someone, maybe not a literal judge in a court of law, maybe some of us have been there, but before someone else who had the right to judge us and to condemn us, and you were guilty. It was obvious that you were guilty. There was nothing to be said, no excuses to be offered. In fact, you were so guilty, the evidence was so overwhelming that there was no reason to even try to lie to get out of that guilt. I can think of several times in my life. Let me share with you one.

And so you had to make your own entertainment. And let me tell you what passed for entertainment in the front yard of my house. We’re on a dirt road, and there were very infrequent traffic, very few cars that would go by, but they were enough that would serve as entertainment for me. And so if I was fortunate enough to be able to catch a snake, I could tie a string around that snake’s head and attach it to my fishing pole. And I could hide in the bushes across the road and with that rod and reel cast that snake across the road and wait. And when I heard a car approaching, I would start to reel in that snake, and it would come across the road. And you may not know this about dead snakes, but when you pull them across a dirt road, they will make that serpentine movement just like they’re alive.

And that’s entertainment. Because a car would come by, or if I got really lucky, one of my buddies on his bicycle would come by and I would reel that snake in across the road, and it looked like a snake would come across. But one time when I was doing that, a lady, I think, the lady overreacted. She ran off the rope. And almost hit me so much so that I jumped and I was caught.

There wasn’t much I could say. It was obvious I was guilty. There was really no excuse, although today, looking back on it, I think she did overreact. But there was no excuse to be offered. There was really no even a lie to tell my mom about what had happened and why it had happened. I was condemned. The evidence was overwhelming. Have you been there? I think we all have. At some point, we’ve been caught red handed, we are guilty. Now, obviously, there’s a spiritual application to that. I won’t ask for a show of hands because it would be universal that everybody above a given age would have to raise our hands and say, that’s us spiritually. We’ve been caught. We did the crime. We might be able to lie about it, make excuses about it to our fellow man and cover up our sins.

But standing before our judge, God himself, who knows all and sees all, who knows the individual sparrows by name and has numbered the very hairs of our head, knows what we have done. There will be no excuses to be offered. Lies won’t help. That’ll just make the situation worse. And so we stand condemned. That’s the picture of you and I outside of Christ. Will you turn with me in your New Testament to the book of Romans, chapter 8?

We want to look at that text in Romans chapter 8. It’ll be our attempt to look at the first 11 verses, and I just want us to camp out in Romans 8, verses 1 through 11. So you might want to put your bookmark or your finger there. We will go to a couple other passages of Scripture, but we’ll be camping out here for the most part in Romans chapter 8. That begins with the good news that there’s no condemnation. Well, that immediately should raise our antenna and say, well, now how can that be?

1. All Have Sinned: All Bad News Before Christ

For those of us who have sinned, and this Romans author, the Apostle Paul, would remind us in chapter 3, would he not, that all have sinned. And before we look at that text, let’s remind ourselves of that bleak situation. In fact, the Romans writer and all of Scripture would have us to know that before Christ Jesus, it was all bad news. Think of the timeline of Scripture. From Genesis until Jesus came.

But it’s not just the henchpin of history in the sense that our calendars changed at that event. Everything changed at that event. And so before Christ Jesus, there was nothing but sin. Sin entered this world and made it ugly in Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve sinned and brought that condemnation onto this planet. And it was repeated over and over and over again. We can’t, that we might be tempted to point back to them and said, It’s all your fault, because we’ve all sinned again, as the Roman writer would tell us. We didn’t do any better than they did. Your parents didn’t do any better than they did. Your grandparents, great-grandparents, count them all the way back to Noah and then all the way back to Adam and Eve.

Nobody did any better than they did. For all have sinned.

Every one of those generations in Genesis chapter 5, everywhere those generations are listed, end with the same three words, and he died. That’s the result of the bad news of sin and the condemnation that comes with it. And again, Romans chapter 3 would tell us all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans chapter 5 would tell us that the law, where the law entered, sin abounded. And what that means is every time God came up with a new law, man came up with the new sin. In other words, what law has God ever given that man did not break? And so the law entered, and sin abounded. And then we get to chapter 7. And we think about someone who’s trying. Failing, but trying.

And we can feel some sympathy for this person outside of Christ dealing with just the law when we read back up just a little bit from Romans 8, where I’ve asked you to turn. And look what he says in verse 13, beginning. Has then what is good become death to me? Speaking of the law? Certainly not. But sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. What he’s saying there is the law was good, but it resulted in bad. The law itself was not to blame, but it resulted in something bad, my condemnation, my death, because I couldn’t keep it. Verse 14, for we know that the law is spiritual.

But I’m carnal. That’s it, I’m earthly, worldly, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it’s good. But now it’s no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I don’t do. But the evil I will not to do, that I can practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it’s no longer I who do it, but sin dwells in me.

I find a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God, according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. Prior to Jesus coming, there was nothing but bad news. Even those good, can we call them great men like Abraham, Moses, Noah, David, who tried to do good, at some point failed and stood condemned. And while we can’t relate to them in the timeline sense, because we never lived at a time before Jesus Christ, we can relate to them in a practical sense, so because it is possible even today to live outside of Christ.

And there it is all bad news, just like then it was all bad news. And we struggle to do what is right because it seems that sin is overpowering us and making and compelling us to do that which we really don’t want to do.

2. There Is Therefore Now No Condemnation

Not just to tell us the bad news that all have sinned, and that the wages of sin is death, and that we struggle with this spiritual dilemma of wanting to do good and giving in to bad, but the Roman letter was written to deliver the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel. And that’s contained here in Romans chapter 8. So we read on to find the good news. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Not only is that introduction to good news, it is startling good news. After having said that those who are struggling, even those who are warning with their mind to do what is right are struggling and losing the battle to sin to now say, but there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

How can that be? You’ve just told us all have sinned. You’ve told us the wages of sin is death. You even depressed us by describing the situation that we can relate to I want to do good, but somehow I fail and do bad and fail to do the good. How can you now say that I stand uncondemned? Well, we know from a simple practical standpoint, there’s only two possibilities. One is we didn’t do anything wrong. I ask you the question have you ever stood condemned? And we’d all have to say, yes, we can relate to a time when we were guilty. Somebody knew we were guilty. There was no way out of it. But let me tell you a different scenario and ask you a different question.

Have you ever stood innocent? When it wasn’t you, maybe one of the best things about having siblings is that sometimes it wasn’t me. They did it. I’m innocent. And so there’s one possibility. There’s no condemnation because we didn’t do the wrong. But that bubble’s already been burst in the book of Romans, hasn’t it? And so the second possibility is the possibility he’s offering, and that is there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus because that condemnation, which is a legal term that just means you’re guilty, that that condemnation has somehow been esponged. It’s been removed. It’s not there anymore. Although legally, technically speaking, it should be there. Something happened to it, and it’s just gone. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

In a word, in a biblical word, that’s forgiveness. We stood condemned. Even as we struggled to do what was right, we still stood condemned, but in Christ Jesus, there’s no condemnation. And so we talked about all the bad news, either before Christ Jesus or outside of Christ Jesus, there was nothing but bad news. But now, in the when and the where of Christ Jesus, there is great news forgiveness and no condemnation. But now he’s going to talk to us about another way we overcome this struggle. The struggle that he’s outlined in chapter 7, where you want to do what’s right, but you end up doing wrong, and you want to do what’s good and you end up not doing that because sin is dwelling in me.

3. Made Free From the Law of Sin and Death

And now he’s going to give us in Christ Jesus the answer to that struggle between flesh and spirit. So let’s read on. There’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. So I’ve made that decision. I want to walk according to the Spirit. I want to do what’s right. But he’s already told me in chapter 7 that that’s not enough to just want it. Well, he goes on in verse 2 for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. The law of sin and death either refers to the law that God has given that all men have broken, and the wages of breaking that is death, or it just simply maybe means it’s the rule.

The rule is you sin, you die. But we’ve been set free from that law or from that rule, because the rule of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free. The rule is that if you’re in Christ Jesus, you’ve been freed from sin. You’ve been freed from the condemnation of that sin. But we also have to recognize in this context, in some way, we’ve been set free from the power of that sin that dwelled in us. Verse 3, for the law, what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. Now here I think it becomes obvious that by law, he means the law of God, probably the old law. And he says it was weak. Now wait a minute.

How can we say that something that God pronounced is weak? Did God make a mistake in the law? We do that all the time, don’t we? Did God do that? Well, careful reader of that says no, it was weak through the flesh. It couldn’t accomplish perfection or no condemnation or righteousness or justification, whatever biblical word you want to use, because of the weakness of flesh. It was the people, the attempted law keepers that was the weakness. But what the law could not do, verse 3 again, in that it was weak through the flesh. Now notice the irony here. It was flesh that failed in regard to the law. And so what was God’s solution? God did. God did what the law could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

What flesh messed up, that is the law and the keeping of the law, God remedied by flesh, by the flesh of his son. On the account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. Now, in what way did Christ condemn sin in the flesh? Well, maybe one way he did it is by living perfectly.

See, I can do it. Why can’t you? And so he condemned sin in the flesh by condemning us and our sin by his perfect flesh. But I don’t know that that’s the point in this context. I don’t think he’s talking about condemning the sinner, he condemned sin. Jesus came not to condemn us, we did that on our own. He came to rescue us. And the way he could rescue us is by condemning the sin that beset us. So he condemned or defeated, did away with the sin. That, verse 4, or so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. What did the law require? Sinless perfection. We blew that. But Jesus could fulfill that through forgiveness, the removal of those sins in the flesh.

4. If Indeed the Spirit of God Dwells in You

Verse 5, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. And so here’s this dilemma. Here’s this struggle between flesh and spirit. That we attempted, according to chapter 7, to defeat, but we failed. Even though we wanted to do what was right, we still somehow, through the sin that was living in us, we still gave in and lost to that. But now, now there’s a new and better way.

Pursuing that way, the way of the world, the way of the earth, the way of sin is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it’s not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. So if you have that mind of the world of sin, you can’t please God. Because you can’t have that mind and the actions pursuant to it and please God.

Why? Because we’re not trying. But you’re not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Who’s not in the flesh? Who’s in the spirit? Well, he’s going to answer that, but before he even answers that, we recognize he’s already answered that. Those, according to verse 1, who are in Christ Jesus, where there is no condemnation, where there’s forgiveness. You’re not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. He’d already argued in chapter 7 that the reason for our persistent failure in this arena is because sin dwells in us. But now the answer for success is if the Spirit of God dwells in us. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

5. What Does That Look Like? A Renewed Mind

Dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. The answer to winning this struggle between flesh and spirit is the forgiveness that Christ and Christ alone offers, and letting the Spirit of God, of God Himself, and of Jesus Christ dwell in us. Well, what does that look like? How does that manifest itself in my life? He said there again in verse 9 if the Spirit of God dwells in you, what does that look like? Hold your finger here and go to chapter 12 in the book of Romans. We have presented our bodies, according to chapter 12, verse 1, as a living sacrifice. We have sacrificed self and our selfish will and our carnal mind. And verse 2 continues, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and the perfect will of God.

I remind you that in chapter 7, in that cycle of failure where we wanted to do good, but we ended up doing bad, he said it was the mind that wanted to do good. But it was a mind that had not been renewed because the spirit of Christ was not dwelling in us yet. And so we have renewed the mind. There’s a renewal of purpose, a renewal of spirit that’s possible only if we let God reign and rule in our lives. What does it mean? And what does it look like to have the Spirit of Christ or Christ Himself dwelling in you? Look over in 1 Peter.

I’ll get it right in a minute. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 4. 2 Peter 1. Verse 4. Let’s actually back up to verse 2 to begin the context. 2 Peter 1, verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. With a renewed mind and partaking of that divine nature that God intended for the beginning until sin scarred it, we can let the Spirit of God dwell in us.

We can let Christ Himself dwell in us where sin previously dwelt, and not that sin overpowered us and made us, but we submitted ourselves to sin. And now we submit ourselves to God, to Christ, to His Holy Spirit, and let Him direct our lives. And so we stand with no condemnation because we are in Christ Jesus. And we’ve submitted our own stubborn, selfish, carnal, sinful will to the Spirit of Him who dwells in us. Having escaped the condemnation that’s in the world by lust and partaking of that divine nature, we let the will of God reign in our lives. What a wonderful feeling to stand uncondemned, knowing that there is the forgiveness and that there is the power that God affords us to live victorious lives.

Conclusion

Would you submit to the will of God this morning? Would you recognize that your own selfish, stubborn way is not working? But I will submit myself to the will and to the Spirit of God and let Him reign in my lives. I’ll do what He says and submit to His reign this morning. If we can help you in that or help you in any way this morning, let it be known right now as together we stand and sing.