“No Condemnation”

TEXT: Romans 8:1-11

REVIEW

1. Romans 1-7: The story of Romans is the story of the Bible. It is the story of the depth of our rebellion and sin, and the super-abounding grace of God’s covenant love in Christ. This morning we move ahead to a new chapter in this story. It is a chapter that is full of victory, but the victory is not a pretend world without pain. The Christian victory has a place for temporary loss and for heartfelt grieving. It is a victory that comes through the facts of what Christ has accomplished for us, and it is a victory that we are not always ready to receive just yet.

2. Romans 5:15-18: Our passage this morning contains an important word – condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation…” It may help us to understand Paul’s point if we examine the one other passage in the Bible that uses the same Greek word that is translated here “condemnation.” It is in the same book of the Bible in an earlier chapter that we have already covered – Romans 5:15-18. (… ¹⁵ “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. ¹⁶ And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. ¹⁷ For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) ¹⁸ Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” All mankind is doomed in Adam’s sin. It is this “doom” that Christians have been freed from through the obedience of Christ and His death on the cross.

TODAY’S PASSAGE:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 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. ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. ¹⁰ And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

No Doom

As I prepared this sermon, I was thinking of the difference between the kind of doom that Christ has rescued us from through his death and the doom that people seem to speak about in their experience of daily misery. One is eternal. The other is not.

As I searched on the Internet for the phrase “I’m doomed” the following entries came up. 1. The Desperate Date-Seeker: “I’m doomed. I am probably not going to get a date for the prom! I have asked a lot of people already!” 2. A Junior High Disaster: Perhaps you can relate to this one. “I'm doomed.... I don't know where my History binder is. Meaning, I can't do my report/essay/speech.” 3. The Concerned Computer Addict writes, “I came back from the hostel because I missed the computer too much. ... I'm doomed.” 4. Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop: A woman writes of her near miss of a flat tire accident, and her impending sense that now something bad needs to make up for her good fortune. First the good event – "Watch out for the nails," he said. "Nails?" I replied. "They're all over the road. Better use the sidewalk," he said. Now the fear – “Naturally, I cowered under the bed for the rest of the week. A stroke of good luck like that HAS to be balanced by a fiasco of similar mass, to maintain the natural order of the universe. I’m doomed.”

These were culled from “results 1-15” of 272,783 containing the words “I'm doomed.” Apparently there are lots of people out there who see themselves as doomed. To bring this home a bit, consider the thing in your life that makes you want to add another entry to this list. There is much misery in this life, and perhaps some of it has touched you in a particularly pointed way recently. What’s not going very well? It is not at all unusual for us to require the passage of some time before we are able to think about our current trials in the right way. It seems to me that one corrective for the overestimation of the experience of daily doom would be a right appreciation for the reality of eternal doom. It is eternal doom, and deliverance from it, that the Apostle Paul writes about in Romans 8 when he says “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

You may feel condemned in some way today. This may be because you sense the disapproval of someone else, or perhaps because you disapprove of yourself in some way. As distressing as those feelings may be, Paul is talking about a condemnation that is far more devastating. We were all caught up in God’s just condemnation of humanity because of the sin of Adam. Because of that sin, and because of our own rebellion against God, we had the doom of hell against us, and there was nothing that we could do to deliver ourselves from the righteous wrath of our holy God. But Christ has delivered us from this worst doom of all dooms, by taking our condemnation upon Himself on the cross.

This was not something that we could solve through obedience to God’s Law. It was Adam’s sin that stood against us long before we were born. Only through Jesus, a second Adam, could the victory be won on our behalf. What the Law could not do, “God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” “He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Life According to the Flesh

You probably noticed the important condition in the words that I just read to you. Paul writes that there is a difference between a life lived according to the flesh and a life lived according to the Spirit. Only the latter are freed from doom.

The way that we live is an indicator of what our true condition is. If you are still living just to satisfy the lusts of your flesh – if you want what you want, and you want it now, and the warnings of God mean nothing to you, this text says that you do “not have the Spirit of Christ” and you are “not His.” You live “according to the flesh” and you set your “mind on the things of the flesh.” You are “carnally minded” and “to be carnally minded is death.” The problem with the carnal mind is that it is against God, it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be. Only through the Spirit can we love God, and love what God loves. Paul plainly says, “those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” They are, in fact, doomed.

Life According to the Spirit

If you have the Spirit of God, then there is no doom for you any more. The Spirit dwells in you, and you live according to the Spirit. You set your mind on the things of the Spirit, which leads you to life and peace. Christ is in you. You may face trouble in your physical body, and you will face trials in your life, but your Spirit is alive because of the righteousness of Christ granted to you. These things you have right now if you are in Christ, and you also have a sure hope of resurrection life eternally, for “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

This did not come to you through the law. The law, combined with Adam’s sin (and your sin), only brings you death. Another law, “the law of the Spirit of life,” has made you free. According to this law, Christ has fulfilled the righteousness of God, and has defeated your death with His own. Through His great victory you have the Spirit. Through the Spirit you have “patient continuance in doing good.” Through the victory of Christ you have true spiritual life now, and deliverance from eternal doom forever.

Applications: Facts and Feelings

Because of our common daily-life ignorance of eternal realities, we regularly might want to say “I’m doomed” for something as minor as losing our luggage. That’s why it is so important that we think more about the facts of our eternal condition than about our feelings about the troubles we have or the disapproval we may feel from ourselves and others. Let’s practice distinguishing between a relatively bad day and true doom. If we will do this, we may feel the words of Paul more deeply when he writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

Regularly consider this fact of faith. There is no doom for those who are in Christ Jesus. As long as you remember that fact, then you are permitted a brief period of disappointment when you lose your luggage. If you are not yet in Christ, it is of vital importance that you turn to Him in faith now. You are still in the condemnation that comes from Adam’s sin and your own rebellion. By the law of the Spirit of Christ, find life in Him today.