Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. If you would turn with me in your Bibles once again to the book of Romans and Chapter 8 we are finally returning to and if you would stand with me for the reading of the word of the Lord Romans chapter 8 verses 1 through 4 Let's read together the Word of the Lord. Jesus have 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.

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Let's pray. Father, what a wonderful thing it is, God, to have Your Word in our hands. When we think about it, We think what had to happen for your word in history to be in our hands today, oh God. I pray Lord that all over this nation Lord and around the world that your word would be valued as it is to be valued. That men and women and children would blow the dust off their Bibles and read your word and drink it in and consume it and inculcate it, oh God, and be changed thereby.

And I pray, Lord, that would be the case this morning as we ask for your spirit to wield the sword of the spirit, the word of God in this place today and upon the hearts and the lives of your people. For we ask it in the name of and for the glory of the name of your son Jesus, amen. Let's be seated. So we return this afternoon to our study of Romans chapter eight after a two month series on the person and work and gifts of the Holy Spirit. And in our last session on Romans eight, we camped out on verse one for several weeks, dwelling on the doctrine of assurance and the eternal security of believers, driving home the fact that believers in Christ are positionally safe in Christ.

That there is right now no sentence of condemnation hanging over the heads of any person who is in union with Jesus Christ by faith. Nor shall there ever be. On account of what Christ has done for those who are in him by fulfilling the requirement of the law for a perfect obedience, in bearing the guilt of our sins, and in bearing the curse of the law in our place, and paying the penalty to us for our sins, and suffering and dying in our place. There is therefore now, because of what Christ has done, there is therefore now, right now, No condemnation, not a single sentence of condemnation that can stand against any of them who are in Christ Jesus Amen That's good news. Our sin has been removed from us and placed on Christ Satisfaction has been made to the justice of God that was due us.

The wrath of God has been appeased. Every handwriting of ordinances that was written against us in the law of God has been blotted out from the divine ledger. There is therefore now no condemnation whatsoever to them that are in Christ Jesus. And in our last session I asked how could there be? How could there possibly be?

God's only begotten Son bore the sins of all those in Him in His own body on that cross 2, 000 years ago. And was condemned in their place, condemned in your place if you're in Christ, condemned in your place so that you can't be condemned now or ever. Your sin, the sins of all those who are in Christ was imputed, declared to the account of God's Son. And he suffered the penalty, that is the condemnation that was due your sin and my sin. Your sin was removed from you.

It was taken off of you and placed on him. And he died for it in your place. How could there possibly be any sentence of condemnation still standing against you, or anyone who's in Christ Jesus Seeing that Christ, God's Son, was condemned in your place and bore the eternal death penalty that you deserved, and that I deserved, and that every person who's ever lived on the face of the earth has deserved. We who are in Christ Jesus are no longer clothed in the filthy garments of our sin and self-righteousness. Don't ever leave that one out.

We're no longer clothed and when God looks upon those who are in Christ, he doesn't see us any longer clothed in the filthy garments of our sin, and the filthy garments of our works righteousness, our self-righteousness, our statements of, I did this God, I did that God, were no longer clothed in the filthy garments of that kind of thinking. God took the filthy garments of our sin and our self-righteousness, our, look at what I've done, God, righteousness. And he took them off of us and he put them on Christ. Think about that. Christ who is holy, spotless, pure, blameless.

He took them and put them on His Son on the cross and then dealt with Him like He should have dealt with us for all eternity. Dealt with him on the cross in an infinite way that we can't even comprehend, like we deserve to be dealt with for all eternity. And then he took his spotless robe of his perfect righteousness and obedience off of him and he placed it upon us and We are now clothed in the spotless robe of the righteousness of Jesus Christ our sin was transferred to him and his righteousness was transferred to our accounts and therefore we who are in him are forever, once and for all, justified, declared just in God's sight. And there is therefore, the apostle Paul says, in reviewing no condemnation because of what Jesus has done for us, for his people, suffering and dying for us on the cross. There is now, right now and forevermore, no condemnation, not a single sentence of condemnation hanging over the heads of those who are in Christ Jesus.

Those who are in Christ are, as I said so many weeks ago, outside of the reach of the gunshot of hell. Can't reach you. That bullet, that arrow of condemnation can't strike you. Calvin says the trembling consciences of the godly have an invincible fortress. And the invincible fortress he speaks of is knowing, quote, that they are beyond every danger of condemnation.

If that doesn't make a sinner smile, nothing will. You are beyond, if you're in Christ, your trembling conscience has an invincible fortress knowing that you are now, because of what Christ has done for you, beyond every danger of condemnation. Every danger of condemnation who abide in Christ. The threat of eternal damnation is forever removed from those who are in Him. If you are in Christ, you have no reservation with eternal wrath.

Well the world does, and everyone who is still in their sins or still walking in their self-righteousness, look at what I've done, God, righteousness. But if you're in Christ, you have no reservation with eternal wrath because that's no longer your state. You are no longer in the state of condemnation. You were in a state of condemnation when you were clothed in your own sin and your own self-righteousness, but now you're no longer clothed in your sin and your own look at what I've done God self-righteousness. That filthy garment was taken off of you and put on Christ.

It's a filthy garment to say look at me God. Look what I've done God. That's a filthy garment in the sight of God. All our righteousnesses, the apostle Paul said, are like a pile of filthy rags to gain acceptance with God. And you know what?

The proud soul doesn't want to hear that. We just wanna feel like we can do something. Look at me somehow, look at me God, no. Look at Christ, don't look at me. Look at what your son did.

Look at how he obeyed perfectly and I didn't. Look at him and look at how he died on the cross for me God. Don't look at me directly, but look at me through the lens of the perfect righteousness of your son. I beg of you, God, and I'm trusting that your word is true, that all who trust in him will never be put to shame. If you're in Christ, you will not have your part in the lake with fire.

The Bible says the wicked, all liars and thieves and adulterers, they've got their part. They have a reservation in the lake of fire. You know, You go down the road, you're going to some city, you're going to work, you're going on vacation, whatever, you call ahead, you make your reservation at the hotel, you get there, your reservation's there, you check in, you're never checking into hell. Your reservation was canceled, who were in Christ Jesus. You understand that?

The good news of that? Your reservation was canceled. Thank God that because of what Jesus did on that cross, your reservation was canceled because of his perfect obedience to the law when you hadn't obeyed at all, as you should. And because he died for your sins, your reservation has been canceled. On the day of judgment, the wicked are gonna cry out for the rocks to cover them.

The scripture says they're gonna cry out for the rocks and cover me and hide me from the face of him who sits on the throne in his glorious righteousness and holiness and perfection and the brightness of it all, but your soul is going to be safe and secure in the cleft of the rock of Jesus Christ, who are in Him, who trust in Him, whose trust has been placed on Christ and Him alone, on Christ and Him crucified. Because Jesus suffered and died and paid the penalty of death eternal for all those in him, there is therefore now no damnation awaiting them that are in him. Sproul says the text allows for that. There's no damnation awaiting you. There's no damnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

All who are in Christ are safe in Him both now and forever. Again, if that doesn't make you smile, nothing will. If that doesn't make a sinner smile, nothing will. And I don't see anything but sinners in this room. If that doesn't make you smile, nothing will.

The coroner, you may remember I said, the coroner will never draw the sheet of damnation over the face of any person who's in Christ. Never. And then we ask the question, but what does the apostle Paul mean when he says to them who are in Christ Jesus? What does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? Very simply, to be in Christ Jesus is to be in spiritual union with him by faith.

Pretty simple. A five year old can understand it. The problem is that there are many adults who just can't seem to comprehend it. They want to say, but do, but I got to do, I got to do to somehow to get God's favor on me, to get his anger off of me, I got to do, I got to do more, I got to do, I'm not doing. Stop doing, start believing, and then God will start doing through you what you could not do before you were in Christ.

Does everyone get that? Luther Wright's faith unites the soul with Christ. We read John 5 24 in our last session on Romans 8 one, Jesus said, truthfully I say to you, verily, verily, whoever hears my word and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation. Who's gonna stand against Jesus' words? Is any power in heaven or earth or below the earth going to be able to stand against the words of Christ, you believe?

You have possessed eternal life right now, and condemnation isn't coming your way. Oh, that's pretty simple again. I don't know if I can believe that, it's too simple. No, there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, to those who believe, to those in union with him by faith. And as we closed out that session on Romans eight, we saw that those in union with Christ by faith are identified by the Apostle Paul as those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

They walk not after the flesh because they are no longer in the flesh. They're now in the Spirit. They're now in Christ and Christ is in them. It's not that those who are in Christ come to be in Christ by the way they walk, and no one ever walked their way into Christ, or worked their way into Christ, but that this is the way those who are in Christ walk as a pattern of life. Not perfectly, remember the billboard I said you need to string up behind me, the banner?

Not perfectly, but what? Progressively, who said that? He did it, He said it. Yeah, but progressively, right? Not in perfection.

But that's now your pattern of life. You aren't in Christ because you walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. You walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit because you're in Christ. See how it works? That's how it works.

To walk after the Spirit is to walk after or according to the new nature given us in the new birth. People that aren't born again don't have a new nature to walk after. So of course they're going to continue to walk in a pattern of life the way they've always walked. But there's something new that takes place and so incrementally it begins to show in our lives. Immediately, to some degree, and incrementally over time.

All who are in Christ walk as a pattern of life after their renewed nature, because they have a renewed nature. Pretty simple. John Gill says their walk is not the cause of their being, no condemnation in them, but it's descriptive and it's evidential. That is, it is descriptive of that person who is in union with Christ by faith, and the way they walk in this world provides evidence that they truly have faith. And there is no condemnation now to them.

And I said as we close the final portion of that message on Romans 8 one, I said someone you know might ask you that point, but how do I know if that's me? How do I know? So I know there's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, and I know what it means to be in Christ Jesus, okay, to be in him by faith, and I know that those who are in Christ Jesus walk in a pattern of life different than they did before, but how do I know if I've been born of the Spirit and given that new nature? How do I know if I'm walking after that new nature? Remember when I said this?

You might say, you know, my walk isn't what I want it to be. My walk isn't quite where it should be, God. It's not where I want it to be. It's not where it should be. And you remember I said, I'm glad you asked that question.

Because those who are not in Christ Jesus don't typically ask questions like that. They don't give a hoot. They just are concerned with things like that. You know what I'm saying? Those who are not in Christ don't have any of that kind of sensitivity to the sin in their lives.

Brother Eric talked about repentance. Well, one of the elements of repentance is what? You got to know you're a sinner. You got to have some sensitivity to the sin that's in your life. There's gotta be some knowledge of sin.

Those who are not in Christ don't have the kind of sensitivity to the sin in their lives that they're really concerned, that they aren't troubled by their failures, if they even admit of any. Some of them don't. Well, they can see your sin with an eagle eye and point it out, but they're blind to their own. Those who are in Christ, on the other hand, are sensitive to the sin in their lives, and though they are being conformed more and more to Christ, it's difficult for them to see it. Because the more they conform to Christ, the more they see how far away from his perfect image they are.

You get that? Does that make sense? The more they see of the holiness of God and of Christ, the more they become aware of the deficit of holiness that is in them. That's okay. That's all right.

That's okay. That's a good thing. Those who are not in Christ, who are on their way to hell, don't see it. So when you say my walk isn't what I know it should be, and my walk isn't what I want it to be, that's the kind of thing that Christians say, true believers say. That's the kind of thing that those who are in Christ say.

Those who are on their way to hell don't care. And they think everything we're talking about is just foolishness. Eric talked about repentance. Because those who are in Christ are sensitive to the sin in their lives, they live in repentance and faith every day of their lives. Like Brother Eric said, repentance and faith isn't a one-time thing, right?

Like Paul Washer said, it's not like I got that inoculation, I got that, I did the repentance and faith thing a long time ago, no. Those who are in Christ, truly in Christ, they live in repentance and faith every day of their lives and they're turning from sin and trusting in Jesus all the time. You may have sinned on your way to church. You may have sinned when you were at home before you went to church today. You might have had some little irritation going on with your husband or your wife or your kids or whatever.

If you're in Christ Jesus, you're turning from sin and trusting in Jesus all the time, and you're repenting in faith all the time. One of the problems we who are in Christ have is that we sometimes put more stock in our feelings than we do in God's word. I said it earlier, John 5.24, Jesus said, who hears my word, he believes on him that sent me, he has everlasting life, he's not gonna come into condemnation, he's passed from death to life. And we say to ourselves, can that really be true? Are you for real?

Yeah, Jesus is for real. What we should be doing is saying to ourselves, it's true, I know it's true, because it's written with the finger of God in Christ's blood. But sometimes I don't feel like I'm in Christ. Forget your feelings. You know, what is this thing in the American church of feelings, I feel, well I feel like, well I feel like, stop feeling and start believing what God's word says, start trusting him.

You can't always trust your feelings, but you can always trust God's word. Those who are in Christ learn more and more over time to trust him above their feelings. And so as we pick up with verse two of Romans eight this afternoon, we read, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus because Christ has freed those who are in him from sin's penalty and from sin's power. Okay, what we just talked about was condemnation.

Christ has saved you by what he's done from the penalty to your sin and from the power of sin to enslave you. To dictate to you what to do always, from the dominion of sin and from the eternal consequence of sin, which is death. Why is it that those who are no longer under the sentence of condemnation walk not after the flesh but after the spirit? Because within all those justified by Christ, listen and look at verse two. Within all those who are justified by Christ, there is a law, in the sense of a principle, of the life-giving spirit of Christ within them that was not in them, not within them when they were in the unregenerate state.

There's something different in you in operation. You understand that? There's something different in operation in you now that there was not in you when you were outside of Christ and under the wrath of God and the condemnation of God. I note in my Bible commentary it says, the justified sinner has the Holy Spirit within him, bringing a new principle of spiritual vitality towards God that delivers him from the principle of sin. Dr.

Sproul comments, the principle of life in Christ is what frees us from the principle of sin and death. When we were not in Christ, we operated by the principle of sin. Outside of Christ, sin defines our existence, Sproul says, and the natural consequence of that sin is death. End quote. That's not the way it is with us now that we're in Christ by faith.

Those in Christ, on the other hand, have been liberated, freed from the principle of sin leading to eternal death. Freed from that power, that law or principle working within, that power, that influence which like a law working in us, enslaved us and had us bound in chains. Our text tells us that something has taken place in us and is taking place in us, there's something in us that was not in us before. We came into union with Christ by faith. And our text tells us that this is something the law wasn't able to accomplish for us.

Please don't let me lose you here. We're 23 minutes in, don't let me lose you, okay? This was something the law was unable to do. The law can't save us from our sin, and the law can't help us stop committing sin. Okay?

It doesn't mean the law of God doesn't have its purposes. It does. One of them is to reveal our sin to us. Paul says in Romans 7 and 8, I would not have known sin but by the law. The law was intended to be a mirror to reflect the perfect righteousness of God and in contrast reveal to us our sinfulness and inability to keep it as required, but the law, listen to me if you don't get anything else, the law can't save.

The law can't save. More is required by the law than what we can perform, says Calvin. The law requires a perfect obedience and no one but Jesus has ever fulfilled that requirement. The law does not save, says Sproul, because it cannot save. But thanks be to God, our text this afternoon says, what the law couldn't do, God did.

Everyone see that? What the law could not do, God did. What the law couldn't do for us, God did. By sending his own son who never sinned in the likeness of sinful flesh, that is in a human body just like ours and just like yours and mine, in every respect except without sin, and that in his own body on the cross, sin was condemned. Your sin.

My sin. Condemned in his own body on the tree for our sin. That's what it means in the text when it says for our sin. He underwent the condemnation of sin and suffered the wrath of God to us, thereby satisfying the divine justice to our sin by dying in our place. Our sins were removed by the death of Christ.

But what does it mean when Paul says in verse three what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh? Let me throw that out there, buddy, alright? Somebody give me an answer. What do you think that means? Is there anyone that just says, you know, I think I got a good feel for that?

I mean, I'd like to know. Anybody have a good feel for that? I mean, what does it look like? It looks like it says the law is defective, but it's not what it's saying. Is the law defective?

Is there a fault in the law? No, remember, maybe remember from our study of chapter seven and verse 12, it says the law is holy, just, and good. There's nothing defective in the law, nothing wrong with the law. The law cannot save us because it's powerless to save us on account of the corruption of our flesh. Not because there's any defect in the law, the defect was in us.

The fault was not in the law, but in the corruption of our flesh, and our inability to keep the law as the law requires, which is imperfection. Okay, listen up. So, remember the covenant of works? Here's the covenant of works. You have the covenant of work, hey we got the covenant of grace, we're under the covenant of grace, not the covenant of works.

Under the covenant of works, what do you got to do? Keep the law perfectly and be justified in God's sight. How many got it down? Anybody got that? Anybody got that down?

Yeah, keep the law perfectly and you're justified in God's sight. Ooh, wait a minute. Are you serious? That's a requirement of the law. But listen, if you can't attain the righteousness which is by the law through perfect obedience, and you can't, and if the fault lies not in the law, but in you, and it does, and if the law then is powerless to save you on account of your inability to keep it perfectly, and it is, What in the world are you going to do?

We are wholly excluded from the righteousness of works, says Calvin. The law can't save us because we're incapable of keeping it perfectly as required. The law is impotent. You say it was weak through the flesh. Look at the text.

The law is impotent in this regard on the account of our corruption. There's no hope for any man or woman in such a state but to Flee to Christ for righteousness. We got to flee to him for righteousness. Hear the words of Calvin here. We have to flee to him for righteousness, for we shall never be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, except we first know assuredly that we have no righteousness of our own.

Oh, is that you? This afternoon, as we close, is that you? Is that something you know to be true about yourself? Can you look in the mirror? Have you ever looked in the mirror and said, I have no righteousness of my own.

The guy looking back at me in the mirror has no righteousness. I have no righteousness of my own. Calvin's saying until you get to that point, why would you want to flee for the righteousness of Christ? You're still trying to do it all on your own. It's a humbled soul and an honest soul who prays, God, I don't have anything to set before you.

I've got nothing to merit your favor. There's nothing within me whereby I can commend myself to you for your acceptance, God. I have no righteousness on my own. I have nothing to set before you but my sin. I have nothing to set before you, God, but my sin.

I admit the law is powerless to save me on account of my inability to meet its demands. The defect isn't in the law, the defect's in me. There's not anything wrong with the law, God. There's something wrong with me. Are you able to look into the mirror, or have you ever looked into the mirror and said, there's something wrong with me.

Strikes in our pride, doesn't it? There's something wrong with me. God, there's something wrong with me. I have no righteousness, but I believe God that what the law could not do and that it was powerless on account of my inability to keep it, you did, God, by sinning your own son. I believe that.

By sinning Jesus, who in the likeness of my sinful flesh in a human body just like mine with the exception of no sin, that he alone met the demands of the law for lifelong perfect obedience in my place and gave himself a sacrifice and offering for my sin and my trust is in him alone in Christ and him crucified nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I claim if that's you and when you sing those words, you actually mean those words. Nothing in my hand I bring. So I sin. Simply to thy cross I cling. In my hand I bring, except my sin.

Simply did I cross, I cling. That's salvation. And no one gets there unless God the Spirit has moved upon them to bring them to that humble place. And I hope that's every one of us today. And with that let's close in prayer.

Oh God, we were all clothed in our sin and self-righteousness and dead in trespasses and sins until you raised us from death to life, brought us to saving faith, gave us graciously hearts of repentance, and clothed us in the perfect righteousness of your Son. Oh Lord, our confidence is not in our merits, but in the merits of Christ, for our acceptance with you. We've cast ourselves Oh God at the foot of the cross trusting in the merits of your son and your son and his work alone. We know God that by the keeping of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in your sight because no one but your son has fulfilled the requirement of the law for perfect obedience and no sacrifice is acceptable except the sacrifice he made on that cross for our sins 2, 000 years ago. Our trust is in him.

Nothing in our hands we bring, oh God, simply to the cross of Jesus we cling. And it's in his name we pray these things. Amen.