At the end of chapter 7, Paul assures all believers of having power to overcome sin and the assurance of final deliverance from this evil world. But he includes the reminder that during this lifetime, there will be constant tension because in the sinful nature, even a believer is “a slave to sin” (Romans 7:25). The question arises - are we to spend our entire lives defeated by sin? The answer is a resounding no! In this chapter, Paul describes the life of victory and hope that every believer has because of Christ Jesus.
We feel condemned because Satan uses past guilt and present failures to make us question what Christ has done for us. So, a basic truth of the christian life is that our assurance must be focused on Christ, not our performance. No matter how we may feel, there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
Because we have been rescued by Christ (Romans 7:24-25), we are not condemned. To belong to Christ Jesus means to have put our faith in him, becoming a member of his body of believers. Jesus said, “I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
The Holy Spirit, who was present at the creation of the world as one of the agents in the origin of life itself (Genesis 1:2). He is the power behind the rebirth of every Christian, and the one who helps us live the Christian life. The Holy Spirit sets us free, once and for all, from the power of sin and its natural consequence, death. How did this happen?
Freedom over sin never can be obtained by obedience to the law. The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But what the law can’t do, God did by sending his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. Jesus was completely human (John 1:14), with the same desires that yield to sin, yet he never sinned (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:14-16). Christ took on humanity in order to be a sacrifice for our sins.
Because Christ was sinless, his death passed the “death sentence” on sin for all of us, destroying sin’s control over us. In Old Testament times, animal sacrifices were continually offered at the temple. These animals brought to the altar had two important characteristics: they were alive, and they were without flaw. The sacrifices showed the Israelites the seriousness of sin: innocent blood had to be shed before sins could be pardoned (Leviticus 17:11). But animal blood could not really remove sin (Hebrews 10:4); and the forgiveness provided by those sacrifices, in legal terms, was more like a stay of execution than a pardon. Those animal sacrifices could only point to Jesus’ sacrifice that paid the penalty for all sin. Jesus’ life was identical with ours, yet unstained by sin. So he could serve as the flawless sacrifice for our sins. In him, our pardon is complete. The tables are turned so that not only is there “no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus,” but also the very sin that guaranteed our condemnation is itself condemned by Christ’s sacrifice.
The requirement of the law is holiness (Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7); but the law is powerless to make us holy because of our innate sinfulness. Only through Christ’s death and the resulting freedom from sin can we no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit and thus fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us become holy. The Holy Spirit provides the power internally to help us do what the law required of us externally.
We will struggle constantly with sin and its temptations until we are at home in heaven. People who decide to follow their sinful nature will be dominated by it and think about sinful things. But believers do not need to live in sin because they can now live controlled by the Holy Spirit, so they can think about things that please the Spirit. We must follow Christ daily in every area of our life, in our choices and moral decisions. The question we have to ask and answer is this - Will you follow your former sinful nature or the Spirit’s leading?
Choosing to let the sinful nature be in control will result in death, both spiritual and physical. Choosing to let the Holy Spirit control our minds will bring us full life on earth, eternal life, and peace with God. Elsewhere in Scripture we find the characteristics of a mind under the Spirit’s control. It will be a mind directed toward truth, aware of the Spirit’s presence (John 14:17). It will be a mind seeking to please the Holy Spirit (Galatians 6:8). It will be a mind active in memorizing and meditating on the words of Christ (John 14:26). It will be a mind sensitive to sin (John 16:7-11). It will be a mind eager to follow the Spirit’s guidance (Galatians 5:16-22). The control of the Holy Spirit begins with voluntary commitment and submission to Christ.
The sinful nature cannot submit to God because it is the seat of indwelling sin and is always hostile to God. Living in sin, following one’s own desires, and disregarding God boils down to hostility to him. Every person not united to Christ is thoroughly controlled by sin’s power. Thus, those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God because they are interested only in themselves and have cast aside the one and only power that can defeat sin. The mind directed by the sinful nature can only be devoted to its own self-gratification, which will lead to destruction.
Every human being has a sinful nature. But believers in Christ have access to the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul says, “The Spirit of God lives in you” (8:9). Believers are still in the flesh, but because they are born again, they also have God’s Spirit. The question is which will be in control.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read and studied today?)
I compare Romans 8 as somewhat like you’re winding your way up Highway 5 up towards the Oregon border. You’re coming up to some incredible mountains, some incredible scenery. Maybe the snowfall has come and the plows come through and you’re able to get through. It’s beautiful. That’s what the book of Romans is like, like this mountain that you’re going through. But those of you who have driven up that way know that all of a sudden in the midst of those mountains is this huge mountain, Mount Shasta, that rises above all the other mountains. It’s not that the others aren’t grand it’s just that there’s something about this one mountain that catches you attention. It almost takes your breath away when you come around the corner and you see it.
Romans 8 is something like that. Romans 8 is like you’re flying into America for the first time, maybe you’re immigrating to America, flying into New York City or taking a boat into New York City. You come into the harbor and you see the Statue of Liberty. It’s that sign of freedom that rises above everything. You’ve been expecting it, you know it’s coming, but still there’s something about it that excites you. That’s what Romans 8 is like.
Romans 8 helps us to know how God can change our lives because He’s a God that loves us and doesn’t condemn us. This chapter has God’s life-changing answers to four condemning statements that we’ve probably all made about ourselves.
Have you ever said to yourself “I'm no good” because of something you’ve done or something you’ve not done. You just want to kick yourself. You say, “I'm just no good!” Romans 8 has the answer. It reminds us that God has no condemnation for us.
If you’ve ever felt like, “I'm no good!” It’s not a moral statement, it’s not a philosophical statement. You just feel bad about yourself because of what you did or didn’t get done. If you ever felt that way and who hasn’t at one time or another, what do you do with that feeling? Some people ignore it, ignore it until it goes away. But it never really does. Another strategy that many of us have when we feel like we’re no good is we wallow in it. Like a pig in a trough – “If I'm no good I'm going to really feel no good. If I'm no good I want everybody around me to feel no good too.”
What’s the right strategy for dealing with this feeling? It’s not ignoring it, it’s not wallowing in it. It’s examining it. It’s a genuine feeling that we have. Bring it out in the light and examine it but once you’ve done that do two simple things. One simple thing that God has to say to us in these first few verses of Romans 8. Anytime you condemn yourself, live with this attitude of “I'm not going to make it,” God has something thing to say to you.
HEAR GOD’S PROMISE
It’s a great promise. Two verses. One is earlier in the book of Romans, Romans 3:20, and the other is Romans 8:1. There’s two kinds of assurances about condemnation in these verses. Romans 3:20 says “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law. Rather through the law we become conscious of sin.” That’s the “therefore” of condemnation. That’s the “therefore” of summing up all the first part of Romans because we’ve all sinned and all fallen short of God’s glory, therefore we all have a problem with our conscious. And no one can become righteous just by doing good things by trying to be a better person. Last week we looked at Romans 7 where Paul talks about what it’s like trying to live the Christian life on your own power. It’s a pretty frustrating chapter. He talks about what it’s like trying to do it on my strength rather than God’s strength. That’s what this is about – the condemnation that comes. That’s the “therefore” of condemnation.
But there’s another “therefore.” Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Read that verse as it it’s the first time you ever saw it and read it as if your life depended on it because it does literally, spiritually. What an incredible promise! This is one of those places where the division of the chapters in the Bible doesn’t help us, it hurts us a little bit. You know that the chapters weren’t inspired by God. That came 1600-1700 years later. Most of the time they’re pretty good but this is one of those times where you miss that he’s really finishing the sentence in chapter 7 at the end of the chapter. “I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. But therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Change happens because of what Jesus has done.
If I'm going to quit condemning myself, I have to see and hear God’s promise. When you really hear God’s promise about condemnation – “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” – you start to see yourself in a new way. You start to treat yourself as God treats you. All of us don’t treat ourselves as God treats us. But there is therefore now no condemnation. What does this mean?
First of all let me tell you what it doesn’t mean. “There is therefore now no condemnation..” “No condemnation” does not mean does not mean no mistakes. “No condemnation” does not mean no failures. It doesn’t even mean no sin. Let me be very clear about this. It does not even mean no struggles. We’ve got struggles in the Christian life. We’ve got struggles trying to be the kind of people God wants us to be. Or is it easy for you and just hard for me? We all struggle with this.
But it means we struggle without condemnation. It means that God has begun to treat us in a new way. He’s always wanted to treat us this way because of what He’s done in Jesus Christ.
What does it mean? When we hear these words “no condemnation” it’s hard to get a grasp on what they really mean. What does it mean that God doesn’t condemn us?
God is not angry with me.
In Jesus Christ we have made peace with God and because of that (Psalm 103:13-14) “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are but dust.” God understands your struggle with sin. He tries to help us in our struggle with sin. He’s not angry with us.
If a sheep wandered away from the flock and it got caught up in a thicket and it couldn’t get out. And the shepherd walked over and found this poor sheep in the thicket and couldn’t get out what would the shepherd do? Walk over and kick the sheep? That’s how some of us think God would act toward us. If I wander away and get caught up in something. I cry to God for help but if He finds me He’s going to kick me.
God is not angry with you. Here’s a totally radical thought. The next time you get caught up in some sin, instead of looking for the lightning bolt, look for God’s loving arms. A lot of us when we get caught up in doing the wrong thing, we’re looking for the lightning bolt. What’s God going to send my way? I know some of you think that’s scary because “If I realize that God loves me no matter what that will provide an excuse for sin in my life.” I’ve found the exact opposite is true.
When I realize God loves me no matter what, I find the solution for sin. As long as you think God is mad at you, do you like to talk to people that are mad at you? As long as you think God’s mad at you, you’re never going to go to Him. If you know somebody’s angry with you, are you going to pick up the phone and call them? No, you think they’re just going to hang up on you. A lot of people feel that way about God. There’s no condemnation. God is not angry with you.
Think today how you will apply these truths to your life.
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