No Condemnation

Introduction

In order to understand chapter 8, we have to remember the context of chapter 7. Notice the very first words of the text: There is therefore now no condemnation… Why would Paul even need to say these words? After reading about Paul’s struggle with sin which by the way is our struggle as well, we might be tempted to think, “Paul you really blew it. With so much failure in your life, God has to throw you away. The presence of sin in your life demands condemnation.” Now this is a temptation, I think we all have dealt with.

We have been trying to speak kindly and gently with others, but here we go again and said something hurtful. Its eating us up inside thinking about how often we struggle with this sin. Inside there is this voice that whispers inside our heads:

You don’t deserve God’s forgiveness, look how often you struggle with this same sin.

You must not be a Christian because a Christian would struggle like you do.

I can’t believe I would stoop so low, I am better than that.

You are worse than all those other people who aren’t struggling with this.

When we struggle with sin, there are feelings that prick our hearts. I would honestly be worried if you did not have those feelings and there is a place for them. When we have sinned, we should experience a sense of guilt and conviction from the Holy Spirit. At this point we need to distinguish between guilt and shame. Guilt is the result of having broken a law. So guilt is objective. When you do something wrong you are guilty whether you feel guilt or not. Shame on the other hand is the feelings of guilt. Think about the story of Adam and Eve. What did they do when they heard the voice of God? They hid themselves in a bush because now they experienced shame.

There is a place for godly shame in our lives. 2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” Wrestling with the feelings of our guilt and experiencing true sorrow over it can move us to change. In fact, God criticized Judah in Jeremiah 6:15 “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.” because they couldn’t even blush over their sin.

But there is also an ungodly shame. 2 Corinthians called it the sorrow of the world. There are many types of worldly sorrow, but one is a failure to believe God has forgiven and cleansed us when we confessed, repented of our sin and sought to make things right. It is a belief that God has cast us off forever; that we somehow lost our salvation. That we are condemned by God. This is the feeling that Paul is addressing in these first few verses of Romans 8.

Paul teaches on walking in the Spirit and sanctification in this chapter, but the greater theme of Romans 8 is the security of the believer. Why is it that a Christian can rest secure even when he knows that he fails so often? These verses will answer that question for us this morning.

The believer is not condemned though he fails

Let’s start with 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.” if you haven’t already, I would recommend memorizing this verse so you have it in your head when you need to meditate on its truth.

The now contrasts with the shall deliver of 7:24. The strength of Paul’s theology is that the future has invaded the present. While the final deliverance from the body of this death is still to come, today we enjoy the benefit of that deliverance. Paul looks forward to a day when he will be made perfect, but today he enjoys the benefit of not being condemned.

Condemned- a legal guilty verdict often with punishment to follow

The bible teaches that those who fail to keep the law are under a curse or condemnation. Galatians 3:10 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” But for the Christian, we are declared to be righteous. We will not suffer the punishment of hell for our sins like the lost will.

Does this mean that a Christian will never suffer for their sins? 1 Peter 4:17 “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” God doesn’t ignore sin in the life of a believer. In fact Hebrews 12:5–6 “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” But there is a difference between chastening and condemning. Chastening is discipline for the purpose of training or making us better while condemnation is sentencing us for a crime. There is pain in both but one is about making us better the other is merely punishing us for our crimes. Condemnation is also final while chastening is a continual process.

In Christ- references back to our union with Christ in chapter 6. We are not condemned because of our special relationship with Jesus Christ. Because of our connection to him, our debt is paid. The implication here is that you can be sure you will not be cast off by God because of your relationship with Jesus as a Christian. You can rest secure, but this security is not because you are perfect. It is all because of Christ.

Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit- This is not a condition for you to not be condemned. This is a description of every believer. One characteristic of true believers is that they walk in the Spirit. They may do it haphazardly, they may fail; but the Spirit lives in them. Romans 8:9 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” By making this statement, Paul is saying this is true of every believer.

The law was weak to effect change because of our inability to keep it.

Romans 8:2–3 “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:”

As a believer, the Spirit’s influence in my life has set me free from the dominion of sin and death. All of chapter 6 and 7 were about our freedom from sin and death.

For what the law could not do- I am not condemned because I have been set free by the Spirit living in me. Paul states that the law could not accomplish this.

Through the flesh- Again it isn’t the law’s fault, but our sinful nature inside of us that makes it impossible to keep the law perfectly.

The truth of the matter is you aren’t good enough on your own. We are unable to keep the law perfectly. Since that is true we deserve condemnation. So Paul saying you are not condemned, has nothing to do with how good you are. Secular counseling tries to counteract these invasive thoughts of shame by self-esteem. The answer to your problem is not feeling better about yourself. It isn’t pumping yourself up or listening to a recording telling you that you are a strong confident woman. (I do that all the time, JK)

Why is it that the believer doesn’t have to live in defeat and shame? It isn’t because there is something special about you per se. I remind myself of a quote from SH Spurgeon when I am tempted to get proud or defensive or lash out at others who accuse me of a failing. I had to remind myself of this quote this week.

Brother, if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are worse than he thinks you to be. If he charges you falsely on some point, yet be satisfied; for if he knew you better he might change the accusation and you would be no gainer by the correction. If you have your moral portrait painted and it is ugly, be satisfied; for it only needs a few more blacker touches and it would be still nearer the truth. - CH Spurgeon

Christ defeated the sin by his bodily sacrifice.

Romans 8:3 “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:”

God succeeded where the law failed. God was able to do something that we could never accomplish. How did he do this?

God sent his Son

Jesus took on flesh

He died for sin

likeness of sinful flesh- Jesus came down and took on a human body. That word likeness is very important. It doesn’t mean he just looked like mankind. The implications of the word imply that Jesus was actually, fully human but not in our sinful fleshly nature.

condemned sin in the flesh- Jesus had to have a physical body to die for our sins and by his death, he condemned the sin nature. He defeated it for us.

Why is this important?

The reason we are not condemned is because Christ was condemned in the flesh for us. I can have victory over the shame and defeat of my failings as a Christian not because I am something special or because there is some good or divine spark within me; but I am not condemned because of what Jesus did on the cross for me. It is all of grace. So when I am struggling with that shame, the answer is not to remind me of how good I am, it isn’t even to remind myself that I am valuable to God. The answer lies in remembering what Jesus did for me. It is in those moments that I need to preach the gospel to myself. To remember, that whatever condemnation is being hurled at me, Jesus paid for it already. No matter how guilty I am or the shame I feel, it is under the blood of Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:1-2 ties in well between this point and the next. John wrote unto the church because he wanted to challenge them not to sin, but he knew that sin would happen. He says in 1 John 2:1–2 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” If you find yourself still struggling with the flesh as Paul did in Romans 7, and you will; know this, Jesus satisfied God’s wrath for your sins, Jesus already paid that debt and Jesus is right now at the throne of God advocating on our behalf.

Now the believer can live a righteous life through the Spirit.

The passage doesn’t end here. Hearing this you might be tempted to think , well, I guess I can just do whatever I want because I won’t lose my salvation. God isn’t going to condemn me. That would be to miss the point. Verse 4 tells us why Jesus did all this: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. If I were to ask you why did Jesus die, there are many answers you could probably give:

Jesus died to save us from our sins. 1 Corinthians 15:3 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;”

Jesus also died to call a people for his name. John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Jesus died to destroy the power of Satan Hebrews 2:14–15 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

Jesus died to deliver us from this world. Galatians 1:4 “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”

Jesus died here in this verse, so that we could live righteously. 2 Corinthians 5:15 “And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

Jesus didn’t die so I can live however I want to. Jesus died for me so that I could be set free from Satan’s power and then serve him in righteousness and holiness.

Conclusion

So let’s bring this back to where we began. Defeat is a horrible way to live. That is what Paul was saying in chapter 7. That kinda life is miserable. It eats us up. We don’t have to love in failure. We don’t have to languish under the shame of our guilt. What joy is there in living a life where I am constantly afraid that God is going to kick me out. Because of the anguish of his struggle with the flesh, Paul’s heart screamed out who will deliver me? The answer is found in these verses.

I don’t have to live a life fearing God’s condemnation. That debt has already been paid by the blood of Jesus Christ. I don’t have to fear being rejected by God because I am accepted in the beloved. But I also don’t have to continue to live a life of defeat which leads to shame. Jesus work on the cross provided what I needed to experience victory. Where does this victory come from? Walking in the Spirit. We will take a deeper look at that in the next few messages.

So here is what I want to ask you this morning: Are you living a life of perpetual defeat? Is that failure driving you into shame and depression? Do you fear God just choosing one day that he is done with you? There is hope for you this morning. That debt is paid and Jesus has made a way for you to live in victory. Today, will you come and ask the Lord to help you live a life in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Will you come and ask him for that victory that is yours? You don’t have to live in sin and failure.