In the sermon titled 'No Condemnation' by Scott Brown, the speaker expounds on Romans 8:1-4, emphasizing that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He explains that believers are freed from the law of sin and death through the Spirit of life in Christ. The speaker discusses the concept of condemnation from various sources, including people, one's own heart, and Satan, but underscores that the most severe condemnation comes from God. However, for believers, this condemnation is entirely removed because Jesus Christ bore it on the cross. The sermon also highlights the importance of understanding the context of Romans 8, noting its focus on the work of the Holy Spirit and its distinction between those under God's wrath and those standing in grace. Scott Brown further elaborates on the 'double freedom' believers experience—freedom from condemnation and the freedom to live under God's grace. He clarifies that the trials believers face are for sanctification, not condemnation. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to live in the joy of their freedom in Christ and not under self-condemnation.

We've finally arrived. Please open your Bibles to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight, find verse one. I'll be reading the first four verses in Romans eight. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter than honey word of God.

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. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has 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 did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. On account of sin, 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 The grass withers the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for these remarkable words, these encouraging words. We praise you for the way that you come in your word to rescue us from so many things and to come and enlighten our eyes. So now Lord I pray that you would take these words and equip the saints for the work of the ministry, that you would use them to put the devil to flight, that you would come and build your church and encourage those who need it and to save those who need it. Amen.

Please be seated. You've seen the title of this sermon if you have an outline in front of you. No condemnation. I don't know. I expect you have lived under condemnation at different times in your life.

You know, have you ever lived a period of your life where someone was condemning you? You are living under their scowl. You're experiencing their disapproval. You hear their criticism. You're receiving their reproach.

And it happens from time to time that you can never do what's right under the condemning scowl of disapproval of people. It might be a family member, it might be a former friend, a spouse, it might be a former church member, might be a boss, it might be an institution. You know, every pastor that I know is under condemnation of somebody in this world, and the work itself actually multiplies condemners in your life. So you have to learn how to navigate that, but everybody, everybody has lived under the condemning scowl of somebody. But if that wasn't enough, our own hearts condemn us.

And if that wasn't enough, Satan himself is condemning us, day and night, the book of Revelation says. And you can easily fall under Condemnation You know through what we've started to call cancel culture. Today, on social media, you can be accused, tried, condemned, and sentenced all in one day. It's such a great moment to live. You know?

This is all very light condemnation. Romans 8 tells us there's a condemnation that's far more devastating. It's the condemnation of God. And I think, while this passage has so much encouragement for the believer, it's so important that every person, if they are not believers to ask, am I under the condemnation of God? Because if you're not a believer, you are under the wrathful condemnation of God.

Now that's so much worse than any kind of cancel this culture might deliver to you. And so this is the issue here. Now, as we're entering into Romans chapter eight, I wanna give you seven facts about this chapter, real quick. First of all, it's the longest chapter in the book of Romans. Second, It's a towering chapter.

It's regarded by, everybody who's read it who's a Christian realizes that. Luther said it was the masterpiece of the New Testament. Douglas Moo called it the inner sanctuary within the cathedral of the Christian faith. The tree of life in the midst of the Garden of Eden the highest peak in the mountain range Well, I could read so many things like that that have been said about the book of Romans and if you recall at the beginning of our of our series I tried to make it plain that in the book of Romans the Apostle Paul is so encouraging. He brings one encouraging fact after another and Romans 8 of course brings these facts to bear.

So the third thing I wanna say is the focus of chapter eight. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's mentioned 19 times in the first half of this chapter. The fourth thing I want to say about it that you should know is the context. In verse one, you see the word therefore.

And I believe he's talking about both the far context and also the recent context. I think when he says, therefore there is therefore now no condemnation, he's going all the way back to the beginning of chapter one and he's summarizing the sequence of his logical arguments for the power of the gospel. He said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, and he's been proving with one line after another why he's not ashamed. And then the near context I think is in verse 22 in chapter seven, we were there about last week where the apostle Paul says, wretched man that I am, Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Well, here's the answer in this entire chapter So the context is critical also the flow of this chapter is beautiful It begins with condemnation In the middle there's no defeat and suffering and it ends with no separation.

From no condemnation to nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. That's sort of, these are the bookends of this great chapter. And then the target audience, the sixth thing I want to say about this is, So far and continuing on in this chapter, the apostle is telling us that there are only two kinds of people in this world. There are those who are under the wrath of God. There are those who stand in grace.

And so here he's explaining just the miraculous status of the believer. And then finally, just a summary of what we'll be reading today. I think he's talking about a double freedom. We're freed from the condemnation of the law and the bondage of our old ways. And we've been given a new spirit.

It's a double freedom. Freedom from condemnation and then freedom to live under this cascading shower of the grace of God every second of your life. It's such a thrilling chapter. So when you become a follower of Jesus Christ, condemnation and punishment have ended and you begin a new war a new walk you walk differently you talk differently everything is different under the spirit the law it's the law of the spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus So those are just some summary beginning statements about this wonderful chapter. You can see I've divided this into two sections, two realities, And these realities, they're communicated in two declarations.

And the first declaration is the greatest gift and it's no condemnation. And then secondly, the greatest help, the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. So these two realities and these two declarations will begin in verse one. 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. This is a declaration.

The believer before the face of God experiences no condemnation. Not now, not forever, not for all eternity. And it's very interesting the way that the Greek sentence, the original language frames this. The word no is the first word in the sentence. That's the focus.

No. Absolutely no. And it's a, it's a, it's an emphatic negative adverb and It carries the idea of a complete cessation. There is a complete cessation of condemnation for the believer. It is complete for everything that that believer has done in the past, is doing in the moment, and ever will do.

It is an absolute complete cessation of condemnation. And he's really answering the question, who will deliver me from this body of death? There are few statements as clear and powerful for the eternal security of the believer as this statement. You will never face condemnation if you believed in Jesus Christ. This emphatic negative is such a powerful statement about the position of the believer in Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus Christ, he has absorbed all the condemnation. Isaiah 53 says that he carried our condemnation upon his shoulders that was meant for us. That he was wounded for our transgressions, that he was bruised for our iniquities, which means that you are not going to be bruised for your iniquities. The chapter will end in the very last section In verse 33 saying who shall bring a charge against God's elect No one no one can man will bring a charge against God's elect but no one who matters It's very interesting he uses this word condemnation it It's a It's a word that's used in the Bible for something even broader than guilt. It includes punishment.

There will be no punishment. No condemnation nor punishment is the idea. I was reading in Micah chapter seven recently, which really affirms this whole idea. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity, and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy.

You know, when we gather as a church, We're gathering under the delight of God's mercy. This is one of the most wonderful things about gathering together as a family, is that it's a family no longer under condemnation. There's no culture like that. Because Jesus Christ is the condemnation bearer. He is the receiver of the condemnation on the cross.

But what's so important to grasp about this, and I hope we do grasp it, already now, right now, the verdict of final judgment has been delivered. It's already been delivered. There is a final judgment, but the judgment for believers has already been delivered on the cross. And then it will be reaffirmed in the in the final judgment. And all all punitive wrath is suspended.

And when you Find yourself, and you will, we all will find ourselves before the throne of God at the final judgment. When you arrive there, Nothing will be held against you. This is so astounding. But even more than that, Nothing is held against you today. God is never against you.

We go through trials, God does test us, He strengthens us through trials. We already learned that in chapter 5 so clearly That it's the trials that strengthen us, but this is no sign that God does That he's condemning you There's nothing happening in your life as a believer that's because of God's condemnation. He yes, He will test and yes, there will be hardships and losses in this world. And losses in this world. But God is glorifying himself through all the losses.

And that's why this is so strongly stated at the very end of this chapter, where he says that God causes all things to work together for good, for the called, according to his purpose. So the trials in your life are not a sign of condemnation. They are placed there by God for your sanctification, not your condemnation. You know, it's so important that we are thinking clearly about our lives. You know, my experience with my own life and my experience, you know, for over five decades in the church, is that Christian people, real, true Christian people, are famous for condemning themselves.

And they often enter into the worship of God with a sort of a spirit of condemnation and it's very very important to ask is it is it Satan that's condemning you or is the Lord condemning you? It's one thing to be called up to greater obedience and greater consecration to God, which we all should. It's one thing to strive for greater holiness and greater separateness before God, but it's, and to not be satisfied with that where you are, that's one thing. But to live in a spirit of condemnation is not a Christian thing. It's something that Satan desires for you.

I know that we all need to be so much more holy than we are. But does grace mean so little to us that we are full of condemnation? Well inappropriate condemnation. It's right to say, well, I shouldn't have done that. I repent, Lord.

It's right to say, I could do so much better. But if you're living under the condemnation of God as a Christian, you've stepped outside of grace. And who is it that is no longer under condemnation? To those who are in Christ Jesus. Who gets this?

Only those who are in Christ Jesus. In Him, this is a technical term for salvation. In Christ, in Christo. I have a friend who at the end of his emails is en Cristo, E-N-C-H-R-I-S-D-O, in Christ. And I always enjoy seeing that.

It's a term that indicates union with Jesus Christ to having been grafted in to Christ. Because only those who've been grafted into Christ, only those who are in Him are out from under condemnation. Everyone else is under condemnation. And so the question is, are you in or are you out? That's the most important question.

And this theme of being in Christ runs all over the Bible. You know, Jesus said, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine.

You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing this is just a very beautiful visual picture of being in him in in the vine being you know connected to something real to the the flow of the life of God in the soul of man. Like to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with something real that's coming from God. It's being connected to a vine. Life-giving vine.

And this language runs all over the scriptures. In Ephesians chapter one, there are phrases repeated over and over again. Just as he chose us in him In him we have redemption through his blood in him. We have obtained an inheritance. So for those who are in Christ Jesus And While this metaphor runs through all kinds of even personal relationships the believer is one with Christ and Then the believers are share in one bread in the Lord's Supper the body of Christ There is one body one head and we are in him And when we have fellowship together, it's a complex and beautiful thing.

We have fellowship with God and with one another all at the same time. This is Christian fellowship. It's like nothing, there's nothing like it in the world. When you're with true believers, there's a connection and a fellowship, but it's because you are both in Him. It's that he is the one that unites you.

You will be taking the Lord's Supper soon and we'll be manifesting the glory of this one bread, this body of Jesus Christ. Not just his body on the cross, but his body, his corporate body. To be in him is to also have fellowship with one another. It's a very broad and deep idea in scripture. And what of these people?

They do not walk according to the flesh. Do you see that phrase there? They do not walk according to the flesh. And he's talking about, This is the language of everyday life. Walking in the Bible is a metaphor.

It's a metaphor for your whole life. You know, what you think, what you do, how you feel, where you go, how you relate. Walking, how you work, everything. You know, walking, you're walking either according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. And what he's saying here is that the believer walks not in the flesh but in the Spirit.

He's not saying, it's really clear in this text, he's not saying you Christian need to walk in the Spirit, that's not what he's saying. He's saying Christians walk in the Spirit. It's a declaration. It's not an indicative of your life. It's a reality of your life.

When condemnation has been removed, you begin to walk in the spirit. That's the idea, not in the flesh. Now, we're going to deal with this word, the flesh, here in Romans eight quite a bit. So I'll just give you a super duper quick flyover of the use of this word. The flesh is used three ways in the New Testament.

It's used of mankind, and it's used of the body, the physical body, and it's also used of human nature. So in Romans, where we are now, we're talking about walking in the old nature. Walking in the flesh is walking in the old nature here. And that's why in Romans, in verses eight and nine, which we'll get to next week. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God because they're not believers.

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. So He's talking about either the walk in the flesh, walking your own way, or walking in the Spirit. Walking in the flesh though, we should be careful to recognize when he uses this term he's not he's not just simply talking about those really bad people out there that are so immoral and so hard-hearted. Walking in the flesh is a term for the unbeliever.

And so many unbelievers, they're nice people, they're moral people, they're upstanding people, they're honorable, they're respectable. He's not just talking about people who are in gross sin. He's talking about people who don't have the spirit. Nice, wonderful, generous people who don't have the spirit, including all the really bad guys at the same time. And he's saying that you have been relieved of condemnation and now you're walking in the Spirit according to the Spirit.

Now everybody should recognize that self-rule doesn't work out that well. True freedom is not found in doing whatever you want to do. True freedom is found in doing what's really good to do. True freedom is found in doing what the most loving, the most wise, and the omnipotent being of the world thinks is good, now that's good. And Freedom is found when you're doing what's actually best for you.

And that's the freedom that you have in the spirit when you walk according to the spirit. And you can always know, you can always know because the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You can always know what that looks like. In verse two, we realize that we've been set free from the law of sin and death. Not only set free from condemnation, not only set free from a life dominated by the flesh, but also set free from sin and death.

For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. I love this phrase, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Look at the word law. Also law is used in different ways in the New Testament. It's sometimes used as a principle and it's sometimes used for the law of Moses.

This is not referring to the law of Moses. This is referring to a principle. This is referring to a rule, a guiding principle. The guiding principle of the Spirit of life, the rule of the Spirit of life, that is what he's talking about. It's a rule.

It's like gravity. It's something that happens. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is like a principle that begins to guide you that you never had before. It's not the law of Moses. And it's referring to The new capability that gets implanted in your soul when you believe in Jesus Christ, the power of sin is broken, and you receive the Holy Spirit.

Maybe you noticed in the month of June there was no rain. No rain, which is a problem if you have cows. So all over our farm, the grass was crispy, everything was brown an entire month with incessant heat and then one night it rained almost all night And I was so struck I went for a walk the next morning, and almost instantly what was perfectly brown was green. I couldn't believe it happened so quick. This is what happens with the Spirit.

Something changes. There's a new life. And the Bible says that as We saw in Romans, early in Romans chapter five, the believer is standing in grace. You're standing in this cascade of the grace of God all the time, or you're not. Or you're not.

It's very important that we understand what's going on around us. It's very important that we understand what's happening in our lives, in one another's life. But the most fundamental issue, the most important issue in this life, and it's happening in every single human being. Every single person you pass on the road, every single person you see in the grocery store, every person you talk to, They have a principle that's guiding them. They have a law.

It's either the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, or it's the law of sin and death. Every single person is sorted out to that. Next week we'll talk about this very unbiblical idea of the carnal Christian, that there are three categories of Christians. This is a false doctrine, that you have Christians and non-Christians and you have carnal Christians. No, that's not right.

You either have those who are who are have the life of the Spirit. They're either living by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus or the law of sin and death. There are only two categories. There are sheep and there are goats. There are those who walk in the light and those who walk in darkness.

There are only two categories and he is making this very clear, but he's saying that when you're when you have the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, you are living differently, let me say it this way, you are unalterably different, you are undeniably different because of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Because when you were converted, the power of sin was broken, and the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, indwelt you and intruded in your life. I heard somebody describe it like, you're now living in a duplex. You have, you still have the flesh, but you also have the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Every illustration breaks down, I know.

But we do live still with remaining sin, as we've talked about. But we also have the reign of grace. And that reign of grace keeps taking over. And that's what it means to live under grace. You know, when the apostle Paul in chapter seven, he said, I find a law within me.

You remember that? I find a law within me. And now you have the law of the spirit of life and the law of sin and death. So This is the greatest gift, no condemnation, and the breaking of the power of sin. And then the second declaration, this great, the greatest help is the spiritual impact of the gift.

And he elaborates on that, which we began to talk about at the end of verse two. In verse three, he's talking about the weakness of the flesh. Verse three, 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. We should be very clear about verse three.

What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. That phrase, through the flesh, is describing where the problem is. The problem is never with the law. Paul's already said the law is holy, just, and good. Paul's already said, I delight in the law of God in the inward man.

He says to Timothy, the law is good if one uses it lawfully. So the law is good, the problem is not with the law. The law is perfect. Jesus Christ kept every law of Moses perfectly. Now the weakness was in the flesh, not in the law.

This is kind of a summary statement of chapter seven. Where we learn that the law is like a searchlight in the soul, the law is like a drone that sees everything that you're doing and tracks everything and tells you which way you should go. It's like a GPS system. You know, it shows you the way out of sin, but it can't save you from sin. The law can show you what you need to change, but the law can't change you.

Only the Spirit of God can change you. So the law is not weak, we are weak. The law, here's a way to explain it. The law works through flawed instruments. The law works through imperfect vessels.

The law works through inadequate intellect, sorry to say. The law works through various limitations of the flesh. I heard somebody describe this like a shovel. Have you ever have you ever tried to pry up a rock with a shovel and you realized after working it that you're going to have to push really hard on that handle. Now I have actually bent some shovels, but I've also broken some handles.

The problem wasn't with the shovel, the problem was with the handle. And that's a little bit like the problem with our flesh. Our flesh is weak. The law is not weak. The law is good.

But the flesh is weak and that's the problem that we have. And this is just a, I think a helpful reminder that God uses the weak. God uses crooked sticks. God uses weak handles. But what the weakness of our flesh could not do, God did.

Do you see that? God did. God did it. God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Not weak flesh, in the likeness.

And God sent his son. This is the whole doctrine of the incarnation. The Son did not become the Son at His incarnation. The Son was always the Son. This is the eternal generation of the, the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son and the perfect holiness of the Son of God.

The perfect holy Son of God, eternally generated from the Father, came in the likeness of sinful flesh so that he could save those who are weak through the flesh. The Apostle Paul elaborates on this in 1 Corinthians 15, where he says, the first man was of the earth made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust, and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man.

So the capability of Jesus Christ in some measure becomes ours by the Holy Spirit. And so salvation comes through the Son of God, not through the will of man, not through, I said it last week, willpower cannot save you because willpower goes up and down. Delight cannot save you because delight goes up and down. Knowledge cannot save you because knowledge is not enough. The law cannot make men righteous.

It can only expose their unrighteousness. So we are weak in the flesh but God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. This is the doctrine of the virgin birth. God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a baby, not of normal generation, but supernatural generation. The sin of Adam did not pass on to the Son of God.

And so he is the Savior of the sinful sons of God. One theologian said, this verse is perhaps the most definitive and succinct statement of the substitutionary atonement to be found in Scripture. Because Christ's obedience was perfect. Christ's delight was unfaltering while ours is. That's the whole point of the gospel.

And just to make the point in another way Christ kept every law of Moses. No one should ever despise one single law of Moses Every law of Moses is a law of God Jesus Christ wrote every law of Moses. Jesus Christ kept every law of Moses. Jesus Christ himself was an embodiment of the law. Christ fulfilled the law.

He said very clearly in Matthew 5 17, I did not come to abolish the law. But the righteous requirement of the law was fulfilled. Look at verse four. 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. You know every good thing that we want that's truly good comes by the Spirit of God.

It comes through the filling of the Holy Spirit. We should never resist the Holy Spirit. Every good thing that we want is found in the freedoms granted by the gospel of Jesus Christ that has just been stated here. And so what the apostle is saying is that if you claim to be a Christian, you are no longer under condemnation and you will have the fruit of a Christian. You will become a new man.

Well, let me just try to bring this to a close. You can be a Christian and not feel it. You can be a Christian without a sense of assurance. Sometimes that's because of self, an inappropriate self condemnation. But if you're a believer, you are not under condemnation, and you will never be condemned again for all eternity.

You know, particularly young people, you know, they feel a great sense of condemnation for their inadequacies of different ways, the way they look, the way they are, you know, this phases of life they go through in puberty and they have all this self condemnation, it's totally inappropriate, it's not necessary to live under condemnation. If you're a believer, because there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And now if you are in him, you have the greatest help you can ever have in this life. It's the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. And I don't want anyone in this church who's a true believer to be robbed of the joy that there is in being in Jesus Christ.

In being in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said it like this to the Corinthian church. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And all God's people said amen. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word. We praise you for pulling us into truth and out of maybe even our own despondency, or even our lostness. Lord, I pray that you would take these words and help any unbeliever to see what a serious thing it is to say, I'm not a Christian yet. Oh Lord, that you would drive it home of the danger, of the condemnation of the wrath that they are currently under unless they turn. Oh Lord, that you would do that.

I pray you do that today. But thank you Lord for filling us up with such encouragement and to remind us that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.