Free From Condemnation
Greatest Chapter: Romans 8 • Sermon • Submitted
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Unclaimed Inheritance
Unclaimed Inheritance
You might have heard the stories of someone receiving an unexpected inheritance from some distant relative or stranger.
One such story is about a man named Tomas Martinez, a homeless Chilean man living on the streets of Bolivia.
Tomas had married a Chilean woman when he was younger, but they separated after only a few months.
The woman stayed in Chile, but Tomas fled to Bolivia to avoid prosecution for writing some bad checks.
There he became and alcoholic and drug addict, known to beg on the streets in order to support his addictions.
Meanwhile, back in Chile, his wife, since they had never divorced, continued to live a quiet life. A couple of years before she died, she inherited a huge fortune from a distant family member.
Upon her death, having no children and still legally being married to Tomas, he became the beneficiary of a $6 Millions inheritance.
Detectives were hired to track Tomas down and were able to locate him in a bar he frequented in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
But when they approached him Tomas thought they were coming to arrest him for the bad checks he had written so many year ago. So he ran.
He disappeared without a trace and, as far as can be found, Tomas has never been found, perhaps living out his life homeless and addicted, never knowing he was a millionaire.
Tomas’s shame and guilt kept him from receiving a life-changing reality.
The Greatest Chapter
The Greatest Chapter
The book of Romans has been called by many a theologian and bible teacher, the greatest book in the bible and Romans 8 as its greatest chapter.
That might sound like a dangerous thing to say, but as Derek Thomas, a Presbyterian pastor in Mississippi, pointed out, if you were going to ask someone to read a passage of scripture to you the 10 minutes of your life it likely wouldn’t be from the first 8 chapters of 1 Chronicles (which is a genealogy of like 1000 names).
But Romans 8 would be a really welcomed read in those final moments.
What we find in Romans 8 is a collection of truths and/or realities that are true about those of us who have come to faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Some of the most significant, powerful, life-altering, and earth-shattering realities that many of us, like Tomas Martinez, fail to live in because we never really knew they were true of us.
Over the next 6 weeks we are are going to make our way through the greatest chapter of the bible, examining along the way these transformational realities.
I have 2 goals/desires/prayers in this study:
That those of us who are truly believers in Jesus will understand more fully the glorious reality of our salvation and identities in Christ Jesus. And that we would LIVE in these realities, embracing the freedom, joy, power, and hope they bring to our lives.
That those who have yet to come to faith in Jesus would be struck with the glorious goodness of our Lord and savior, will realize the hopelessness of their lives without Him, and will come to genuine faith in Jesus and RECEIVE the freedom, joy, power, and hope He brings to lives submitted to Him.
Here is the first reality I want to unpack:
We are Freed from Condemnation
We are Freed from Condemnation
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Let’s start by defining the word “Condemnation”
It means to judge someone as guilty and thus subject to punishment.
It is an identity placed on a person, not just a verdict.
“You are guilty and thus you are condemned.”
So to be “not condemned” means we are declared to be NOT GUILTY, not punished, and free from the shame and reproach of being guilty.
It is the NEW identity possessed by those who are “in Christ”, who are Christians, saved and redeemed through faith in Jesus.
But we need to dive deeper into what that means so we understand just how profoundly incredible it is.
Freedom from condemnation is for those who...
Freedom from condemnation is for those who...
1) are SURRENDERED to Christ.
1) are SURRENDERED to Christ.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Chapter 8 starts our with the word “therefore” which points us back to what Paul has already said.
He is pointing back both to what he has JUST said, but he is also pointing back to all he has said until this point.
SO Paul is saying "based on what I have just said, and all that I have said, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.”
What is it that he has just said though:
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. 22 For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.
Chapter 7 is one of the most powerfully relatable chapters in all of the bible.
Paul, this spiritual giant, who seems to know God so deeply and personally, spends most of the chapter expressing the frustration and difficulty of living the Christian life.
But these words, from what seems to be exhaustion and exasperation, we see the foundation of the incredible declaration of 8:1.
Some have understood chapter 7 to be from the perspective of Paul before he became a Christian, so he would be describing life of someone outside of Christ.
But I, and many others, see this as Paul’s real-life description of the life of a believer.
The chapter ends with what are ultimately 2 statements of surrender.
First in verse 24, Paul surrenders to the wretchedness of sin that dominates our lives.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
And secondly he surrenders to the saving power of Jesus as his only hope.
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.
It is only when we understand what Paul is saying about himself and us in Romans 7:24 that we will ever be able to understand the magnificence of 8:1.
We as humans have done quite a good job convincing ourselves that we are decently good people.
Sure we mess up here and there, say things we shouldn’t, do things we shouldn’t, definitely think things we shouldn’t, but we are decently and acceptable.
We have come up with a variety of ways to deal with guilt and shame (both of which are the results of condemnation).
Either by denying sin by redefining what is good and bad based on our own feelings, comforts, and appetites.
Or we justify our sin, developing reason why what we do, think, and say is warranted, acceptable, and/or reasonable considering my circumstance or personality, or whatever we come up with.
We are attempting to avoid condemnation, but that is not possible.
18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
This is Paul’s message us in 7:24, and what he understands about himself.
We must surrender to the fact that we are wretched, broken, corrupt, and hopeless sinners, in order for us to come to a place where we can surrender to our only hope for help, the saving power of Jesus.
Romans 7:25 (CSB)
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
The reason we are not condemned is not because we are good enough or clever enough, but because of Jesus.
We do not have to walk around and live like criminals because Jesus sets us free in order that we may live in freedom from guilt, shame, and regret, freed from condemnation as we stand forgiven and justified in Christ Jesus.
And so we continue...
2) are LIBERATED from the LAW.
2) are LIBERATED from the LAW.
2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering,
One might say that the problem really is the law.
It is too restrictive, too hard, too harsh.
If it wasn’t for the law, we wouldn’t have this condemnation.
But Paul would disagree:
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
The problem is not the law, it is me, us...
3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering,
“Weakened by the flesh” means that the law isn’t too hard or too harsh, but that we are too weak, too lost, too broken.
But Jesus was none of that.
There is no condemnation for those IN CHRIST because Jesus became our sin.
And the declaration of no condemnation is not something that we have to grow into, earn, or work at keeping.
It is a realized identity.
“there is NOW no condemnation”
In Christ we are freed to live in freedom.
We are liberated from the shame and guilt of our sin.
No longer to fear judgement or doubt God’s love for us.
We are saved, secured, sealed, and set free if we are IN Christ Jesus.
And many a person will say in response, “but doesn't that just give licence for people to sin without consequence?”
“Aren’t they just going to use the cross as a means to do what they want and live how they want?”
The gospel is dangerous isn’t it. It almost sounds too good to be true, and in so many ways IT IS!
But the passage doesn’t stop there.
3) WALK in the SPIRIT.
3) WALK in the SPIRIT.
3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 7 helps us here.
15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
The war that he outlines in chapter 7 is a war that Paul says is between his flesh and the Spirit
Romans 7 is speaking of a man or woman fighting the flesh through the power of the Spirit.
not looking for ways to twist God's law to fit their appetites and vices.
To be “in Christ” means to be an indwelled person.
The Spirit of God living in us, guiding us, instructing us, and shaping us as we live in this world.
Not only does God forgive us, restore us, and liberate us from our brokenness, He gives us a new Spirit, His own Spirit that we might walk a new way.
We are going to dive deeper into this next week, but we must understand this, the Gospel is the greatest news anyone could ever hear.
So for us to treat the cross of Christ as a free pass to do what we want without consequence, then we are desperately mistaken and hopelessly lost.
But if we struggle to see and live in the freedom and security the cross of Jesus brings to the life of a believer, fearful of what freedom might lead to, then we are missing out on one of the most glorious aspects of the Christian life.
Testing Our Faith
Testing Our Faith
Invite you to close your eyes for a moment.
Let this verse wash over you once more today.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Do you understand this, do you believe it, have you received it?
This Gospel is the most astounding, ridiculously glorious, and awe-inspiring reality humanity can ever hear.
How is it shaping you?