Sermon Tone Analysis

Romans 8:1-4

We are now in the eighth chapter of Romans.

As we have gone verse by verse throughout this book we have seen Paul remind us that in our natural state we are sinners that were under the wrath of God.

He told us we cannot save ourselves through any goodness of our own.

He told us the truth of salvation which is only through the Grace of God.

After showing us the life of sin

the life of religious works

the life lived under the law

and showing how each of these fall short of being able to save us.

He now tells us of the life in the Spirit.

Today we will look at the first four verses: the deliverance of the Spirit of Life.

In these verses we are told that we have been delivered from three elements of influence from sin in our lives.

We are delivered from:

I.

The Sentence of Sin

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

We have heard already that

“the wages of sin is death...”

There is a sentence for sin…but what has happened now?

We see first...

A. The Edict

The declaration has been made!

There is therefore now no condemnation

No condemnation!

No threat of Hell.

It has been declared that there is now no condemnation!

Why? Who doesn’t have condemnation?

We’ve seen that we are all sinners and that there is a penalty for that so who has no condemnation?

Secondly, we see...

B. The Exonerated

“to them which are in Christ Jesus”

The only way you can have no condemnation on you is if you are in Christ Jesus.

Jesus is the only One that can save you

You could be a good person and go to Hell.

You could be a faithful church attender and go to Hell.

You could follow all the rules you want to follow and still go to Hell.

Because the only way you can have this edict of no condemnation declared over you, is to be in Christ Jesus.

When you are in Jesus you are saved to the uttermost fully secure from an eternity without God!

No one can remove you when you are in Christ!

We are kept secure by the strongest power there is…the power of God.

You are either in Him or you are not.

You are either already under condemnation or there is no condemnation.

But you can reject this edict.

George Wilson was a career criminal who, in the 1830s, was indicted on six counts of obstructing and robbing the U.S. mail, including threatening a carrier with bodily harm, and violent assault (wounding a carrier).

The violent assault carried a penalty of death.

Rising public petition against the death penalty prompted then president, Andrew Jackson, to issue a pardon for the assault conviction.

Amazingly, Wilson declined the pardon.

“And now, to-wit, this 21 October, 1830, the defendant, George Wilson, being in person before the court, was asked by the court … whether he wished in any manner to avail himself of the pardon referred to, and the said defendant answered in person that … he did not wish in any manner to avail himself, in order to avoid sentence in this particular case, of the pardon referred to.”

The district court was not sure how to handle the complexities of the case, and eventually the matter was referred to the U.S. Supreme Court which later ruled that, “A pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed.

… A pardon is a deed to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not complete without acceptance.

It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered, and if it be rejected, we have discovered no power in a court to force it on him.

It may be supposed that no being condemned to death would reject a pardon, but the rule must be the same in capital cases and in misdemeanors.”

Further, Chief Justice John Marshall purportedly pronounced that the value of a pardon “must be determined by the receiver … It has no value apart from that which the receiver gives it . . .

therefore, George Wilson must die."

He was subsequently executed for his crime.

Who in their right mind would reject an opportunity to be pardoned?

We would assume, as the Supreme Court did, that no person "condemned to death would reject a pardon."

Yet, the Bible tells us that

In Christ, God has offered a pardon to everyone of us.

Nevertheless, a pardon "has no value apart from that which the receiver gives it."

How many in our world allow day after day to pass without receiving God's pardon?

Sadly, George Wilson didn't have to be condemned and neither do you!

If you will accept the pardon paid for by Jesus.

You either have life or you don’t have life!

So we have seen the Edict - there is therefore no condemnation

We have seen the Exonerated - to them which are in Christ Jesus

Then we have:

C. The Evidence

“Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Some people see this as a conditional statement.

In other words we will not face condemnation as long as we walk in the spirit.

But this does not come together with the rest of the Bible.

The Bible cannot contradict itself, if it is God’s perfect Word.

So we must look at our understanding of what it says.

I don’t believe this is a conditional statement...it’s a statement of fact!

Those who know Christ have the Holy Spirit living and walking with us.

Those who are under condemnation only have the flesh to guide them.

They have nothing that wars against their flesh.

But we have the Holy Spirit who we can walk after.

So we ought to show the evidence of our exoneration.

We should walk in the Spirit

This words walk [peripatéō] after [κατά] give the idea of walk with.

For example, the students of the Greek Philosopher Aristotle were known as the Peripatetics because of their habit of following the philosopher around from place to place as he dispensed his teachings.

In Paul’s vocabulary, to "walk in the Spirit" or be "led by the Spirit" means to go where the Spirit is going, to listen to his voice, to discern his will, to follow his guidance

So we are delivered from the Sentence of Sin, and we are delivered from...

II.

The Slavery of Sin

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

We have talked about the bondage to sin much in Romans.

he uses two Laws and telling us that one has made us free while one leads to death.

A. The Law of the Sin Life

When we are lost we have three things controlling us:

the world

the flesh

and the devil

Each of these enemies drive us away from God.

Every single person on earth battles these three forces.

We live in a sinful world that draws us toward self and sin and away from God.

Distracts with the things of this world, money, riches, fame, entertainment.

But Jesus came in to the world to free us from that enemy.