The Greatest "No" in the Bible
Notes
Transcript
The purpose of this morning’s message is to convince you that the greatest NO in the Bible is found in the Book of Romans
The Book of Romans has been called the greatest book in the Bible. and Romans 8 has been called the greatest chapter in the Bible
The apostle Paul introduces the gospel and its power to save in chapter 1. He then shows his readers that we need the gospel because our sinfulness and rebellion have placed us under the deserved condemnation of a holy and righteous God. But he then shows us in chapters 2-5 that we cannot do by ourselves God has done for us. This is called justification by grace alone through faith alone. Justification means declared righteous, it is a legal term. With respect to salvation it is a one time work of God where the Father declares the guilty sinner to be fully pardoned because Jesus has taken the wrath of God upon himself by coming to earth, perfectly obeying the commands of God during his life and then dying as our sinless substitute.
This instantaneous righteousness, the moment we come to faith in Christ, has nothing to do with how we live or what we’ve done. It is completely based on the work of Christ.
Paul moves from condemnation to justification and then in chapters 6-8 he moves to sanctification, the work of the Holy Spirit as he transforms the obedient believer into a Christlike image bearer of God.
And so, as pastor Steve Lawson writes:
Justification is what God has done for me. Sanctification is what God is doing in me and through me.
Justification is righteousness imputed. Sanctification is righteousness imparted. Imputed means that the righteousness achieved by Jesus Christ is credited to my account in heaven. Imparted means that it is having an affect upon who I am and how I live. God is imparting something very real to the inside of me.
Justification happens only one time. You are only justified once before God. Sanctification is an ongoing process.
Justification is an act that involves God alone. Sanctification is an activity that involves both God and man. That is to say, justification is monergistic, which means that there is only one active agent, who is God. Justification was not a joint effort that involves both God and the believer. God alone justifies. Sanctification is synergistic, which means there are two active agents, God and me. Every believer bears enormous responsibility in his daily Christian life. This is a very important theological distinction.
And so open your bible and read along with me and think of our sinfulness our condemnation but also our justification:
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Do you remember being told NO?
The child says: Can I have ice cream just before dinner is ready?
The teenager says: Can I use the family car any time I want?
The friend who never pays you back says, can I borrow your credit card?
Our text for this morning is the greatest NO in the Bible. It is the NO that every believer needs to burn deep into their heart
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
The theme of Romans is “the gospel… and the message of the gospel is that God brings guilty sinners into relationship with himself and destines them to eternal life when they believe in his son, Jesus the Messiah.”
As Paul proclaims the gospel in Romans he has moved from condemnation to justification to sanctification .
Notice in
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
In Greek, the language in which this verse was written, the first word in the sentence is NO.
After reading all that has been said in chapters 1-7 about our sinfulness, our rebellion, the condemnation that we deserve, Paul begin this section with the word NO!
That is why the second word in Greek, the first in English is therefore. Looking back at our condemnation, looking at our justification, looking at the power of the gospel in Christ, Paul wants us to burn into our hearts the word NO.
And that’s because the third word is NOW . No Therefore Now - something has happened that has changed the undeniable truth that our rebellion deserves death
And that brings us to the next word: Condemnation - we don’t quite under stand what it means to be condemned.
It means “to judge someone as definitely guilty and therefore subject to punishment”
This is not wrongful condemnation.
This is you doing 100 mph, in reverse, in a stolen car, down a one way street, the wrong way, in a school zone. You are guilty.
Put it all together: looking back at what the bible says about our rebellion, our sinfulness, our deliberate turning from God there is still no punishment even though we know we are guilty and God knows we are guilty.
Why: look at the end of the verse: for those who are in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Justification declares us righteous because by grace through faith we have union with Jesus the Messiah. And the moment you come to faith in Christ you are in Christ.
That is the NOW of verse 1. You have never come to Christ? Come now and right now you will be declared righteous and there will be no condemnation, no punishment .
There is therefore, NOW, NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Second, Sin leads to death, the Spirit leads to life
Paul has already said in
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now in Romans 8:2 he explains why this true
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
the word law is used twice. Paul is not talking about the Old Testament law, he is talking about two indisputable truths. Think of law not in the sense of rules but more like when we talk about the law of gravity. It’s an indisputable truth about the power of gravity. You drop something it’s only going one way. That is, unless a greater power overrules that law
Here is an exact quote - it’s from an editorial posted on page 6 of The New York Times, on Oct 9th, 1903:
“Hence, if it requires, say, a thousand years to fit for easy flight a bird which started with rudimentary wings, or ten thousand for one with started with no wings at all and had to sprout them ab initio, it might be assumed that the flying machine which will really fly might be evolved by the combined and continuous efforts of mathematicians and mechanicians in from one million to ten million years — provided, of course, we can meanwhile eliminate such little drawbacks and embarrassments as the existing relation between weight and strength in inorganic materials.”
The Wright brothers first flew on December 17, 1903.
Two pieces of paper
The law of sin and death - it is with certainty that none of us can escape physical death. Because of our sinfulness none of us can, on our own, escape spiritual death.
But notice the greater power: The law of the Spirit of life. The Holy Spirit who gives life
Has set you free - you have been released from the punishment that you deserve by the Holy Spirit who gives spiritual life to those who were spiritually dead.
But notice once again the phrase “in Christ Jesus”
Three things you need to see in this phrase:
The source of salvation is Jesus Christ. It is only in Christ because it is through Christ.
This freedom is only for those who are in Christ. You must come to Jesus in faith for your salvation. There is no in the church, in the baptistry, in the church membership roll.
This freedom is “in Christ” . You aren’t free to do whatever you want. You are free but now you belong to Jesus> He is your Lord and master.
Come to Jesus.
Only then will you experience the NOW of the No Condemnation and experience the freedom of being in Christ.