Winning the Battle Against Sin, Part 2

let's now I taught some in Romans 8 back in 2012 early in the year and eight years have gone by and I always feel sooner or later every new iteration every new generation of Grace Community Church needs to be given the gift of this chapter so that's why we're going to start a series in Chapter 8 now I really don't have any idea how long it will go it'll go until we have done our best to exhaust the glorious truths in this incredible chapter back in 1969 when I first came I had as you heard from Michael the first Sunday here was February 9th this is year 51 I know many of you were hoping 50 would have been it but I'm back so that first year of 1969 was not the first time I preached here on February 9th I had preached back in November to the church before they had asked me to be the pastor and that evening that I was here the first time I ever came and it was in the chapel I basically preached from Romans 6 7 and 8 I had been spending the summer working on it and I was so loaded with it that I actually preached for an hour and a half and I didn't realize it Patricia said to me after that sermon well there goes that church and I was so into these three chapters and unpacking them but they did come back and ask me to come back the next week and preach again so I was grateful for that and the next week there was a huge clock on the back wall just to help me move along a little more conscious of reality I confess to you that I can get lost in the Bible pretty easily and certainly in Romans 6 7 & 8 there will be many truths in this 8th chapter that you are well aware of that I will be happy to again put you in remembrance of things because they are the source of our gratitude joy and worship there will be some things in this chapter that will be fresh to you as we move through but all in all this is the greatest chapter of promises containing the greatest promises that you can find in any single chapter in the Bible every Christian should know this chapter and know it well it should be the source of constant encouragement and divine comfort we should all live and love and worship and serve in the glorious truths of this shining diamond of Grace and more than any chapter in the New Testament it details the gracious work of the Holy Spirit for the redeemed people who belong to the Father because they were purchased by the Sun and are now empowered by the Spirit Romans 8 is the believers treasure house of blessing through time and into eternity we have heard much about God the Father we have heard much about Christ the Son and now we will learn about the Ministry of God the Holy Spirit really can be broken into very simple parts the two great works of the Spirit are to sanctify us and to bring us to glory to sanctify us and to bring us to glory all that the father planned all that the son provided is produced by the Holy Spirit mastering an understanding of this chapter with all of its profound gracious realities will elevate your love for and worship of God the Holy Spirit we will draw from this chapter an unparalleled knowledge of the kindness of God through Christ by the Spirit as he has granted us all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies this study will prevent us from all the bizarre and dishonorable things that are heaped upon the Holy Spirit by false teachers who take his holy name in vain with their folly but more than just protecting us from that it will give us cause for worship and gratitude and love and joy in the light of the work of the spirit secured for us by grace now chapter 7 closed on a very negative note as we saw last week let me go back to verse 21 of chapter 7 Paul as a believer faces a struggle he knows that sin is present in him he says that the principle of the reality that evil is present in me the one who wants to do good and there he sets up the Christians battle the new man the inner person desires to do good loves the law of God loves God loves righteousness but there is another principal another operative principal another reality and it is sinned so that Paul says in verse 22 i joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man the new creation the new man joyfully concurs with the law of God but verse 23 I see a different law or a different principle he means that a different operating power in the members of my body waging war against the principle the operative power of the work of righteousness in my mind and it makes me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members there's a sense in which he identifies himself as being righteous and loving the law of God and desiring to honor God and serve God that's the real him that's the real I but in my body in my members my unredeemed and fallen flesh the principle of sin still operative in verse 24 he speaks of his frustration wretched man that I am who will set me free from the body of this death it's as if he has a corpse attached to himself he's a new creation but strapped to him is a dead corpse is there someone to set me free he says verse 25 thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord he knows that he will be set free from this struggle he knows there will be a day when this struggle is over this war has ended but until then he says so then on the one hand I myself the real I with my mind I'm serving the law of God but on the other with my flesh the law of sin he distances the new inner man from the flesh and he says the real me serves the law of God but my flesh which hangs on like a corpse the law of sin that is a very despairing reality and all of us live in it as believers we understand that and that might induce fear that somehow with this wretchedness clinging to us this corpse this carcass strapped to us we would lose the battle and forfeit our salvation there are many people who would teach that but Paul rushes to tell us in Chapter eight with these words therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus that's what we needed to hear that is the good news in spite of the fierceness of the battle in fight in spite of the fact that we consider ourselves in a sense to be wretched and you say well Paul is a mature believer why does he consider himself to be wretched and the answer is because the more mature you are the more wretched you know yourself to be another way to say that is as you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ as you go through the process of sanctification you will sin less and you will behave more righteously the problem is that even though you sin less and are more righteous you'll feel worse because to a righteous person to a sanctified person sin is worse sees by its own righteous eyes the real odious nosov sin a new believer might understand that there are new righteous impulses but will not understand the sinfulness of sin because righteousness hasn't developed enough for him to see the sinfulness of sin against the backdrop of sanctification so it is the case that as you grow in grace and as you sin lad and are more righteous you will feel worse on the one hand but on the other hand you will feel better because you understand how bad sin is you understand how great grace is those who are far along in that sanctification process who sue who really see the sinfulness of sin and see the magnificence of grace have reached the mature ability to worship so here's the good news the battle is fierce you have a corpse attached to you as a believer until the redemption of the body which we'll learn about in the eighth chapter you're going to be serving the law of God with your inner man but you're also going to have sin operative in your flesh but the good news the news you want to hear above all other news is there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus that is a statement that says you are secure you are secure this is the good news you will never be condemned you will fight the battle you will be victorious on occasions you will fail succumb to temptation you will always feel like you are baring about a certain kind of wretchedness but fear not you will never be condemned that is the good news another way to say it is justification is forever salvation is forever this is to give us confidence even in our struggle and that confidence and that no condemnation reality is secured to us by the work of the holy spirit now what does the Holy Spirit do for us this is what we're going to see in the eighth chapter he gives us life he sets us free from judgment he enables us to keep God's law he changes our nature he empowers us over temptation he confirms our adoption as sons he creates a longing for eternal glory he intercedes for us according to the will of God he conforms us to Christ and he brings us to heaven he does all of that so we are secure that's why starting in verse 31 you have this unparalleled portion of Scripture that gives us the full promise of our security no condemnation who can say anything against us if God is for us if God already didn't spare his son but delivered him over for us all how will he not also with him freely give us all things who will bring a charge against God's elect God is the one who justified who is the one who condemns Christ Jesus is he who died who will separate us from the love of Christ and he lists things but in all these things verse 37 we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us the conclusion I am convinced that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord that explains what it means that we're under no condemnation it starts out with a simple statement there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ and it ends up with all that is in verses 31 to 39 culminating when verses 38 and 39 nothing nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord no condemnation that is the best news isn't it we are secure in Christ that is the good news the the battle with sin rages but we will never be condemned think about that every human being is a sinner who stands condemned every sinner every human being coming into the world as a child of Wrath a son of Satan with no resource in himself or herself to change that inevitable judgment to escape condemnation death and hell there's nothing in any human being that can merit an alteration of his inevitable status the sword will fall in judgment unless that sinner is in Christ for those who are in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation that is the greatest promise that we could ever receive is it not every every believer has that promise never will you be condemned and that is secured for you by the will of the Father through the work of the son and by the power of the Holy Spirit no condemnation what an incredible incredible promise by the way the Word of God is filled with condemning statements the soul that sins it shall die the wages of sin is death it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment fear not those who destroy the body but him who destroys soul and body in hell where there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth the Word of God is filled with threats of condemnation and judgment again those who do not know God who do not obey God and that condemnation is not singular but but in reality it's it's sort of triple condemnation there is a foundational condemnation we find that in Chapter five of Romans and verse 12 therefore just as through one man Adam sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned first of all we're under condemnation because of the sin of Adam the whole human race fell we have all inherited Adams condition that's the first level of sin verse 16 it says judgment arose in the middle of the verse from one transgression resulting in condemnation says it again in verse 18 so then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men you're born into the world condemned because you're condemned in Adam that's the first reality condemnation comes because you are a child of Adam but there's a second level of condemnation in Romans chapter 3 it says condemnation is just the end of verse 8 their condemnation is just you might say well look why should I be condemned because of something Adam did but the truth of the matter is that condemnation is just for this reason same chapter verse 9 we have already charged that both jews and greeks are all under sin you're not only condemned in adam because you've inherited the effect and the result of his sin but you're under sin and it's clear as it is written there is none righteous not even one there is none who understands there is none who seeks for God all have turned aside together they have become useless there is none who does good there's not even one their throat is an open grave with their tongues they keep deceiving the poison of ASPs is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are Swift to shed blood destruction and misery are in their paths in the path of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes now we know that whatever the law says the law of God it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God here's the second problem you're not only condemned because you're in Adam you're condemned because you constantly break God's law this is a deeper condemnation that's why condemnation in Adam is just because following Adam we violate the law of God there's none righteous not even one and verse 20 says by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight for through the law comes the knowledge of sin the law just shows you what sin is that doesn't deliver you from it so condemnation at the first level is because you were born a sinner inheriting the effects of Adam's sin secondly you are a violator of God's law and you do that and nothing else all human beings cannot do anything righteous or anything truly good that would satisfy God's perfect law but there's yet a third level of a condemnation it's a it's a serious level go to John chapter 3 this too is profound here it is John chapter 3 verse 15 so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life in whom in the Son of Man the Lord Jesus Christ for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life you believe in him you will not perish you will not be condemned for God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him he who believes in Him is not condemned he who does not believe has been condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and Men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil for everyone who does evil hates the light and doesn't come to the light you're condemned already because you don't come to the light you're condemned already because you don't believe in the Son of God every sinner is condemned by virtue of the sin of Adam every sinner is doubly condemned because he is a constant violator of God's law and every sinner is triply condemned because he doesn't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ this is a deep and profound and unalterable condemnation unalterable as far as the power of man is concerned this is the human reality this is biblical anthropology religion theoretically exists to deliver people from the wrath of the gods religion intends to give you an escape that is why religion exists any religion and all religion is designed to show you a path to escape the wrath of god or gods and if you follow the prescriptions of those religions you will from the wrath of the deity to the favour of the deity but all of those religions offer the pathway as being moral or ceremonial it is either because you do some moral good and therefore God accepts that as all that is required and moves you from condemnation to reward or it is because you have followed ceremonies and you have done the prescriptions that the religion orders you to do and therefore by some sacrament or some ceremony you have escaped condemnation by the way all those religions lie because no ceremony can save you not even the the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament could save anybody nobody was saved by the blood of bulls and goats those are just illustrates of the fact that those couldn't save and that's why they were repeated every day but there needed to be a final sacrifice who could save by the one offering of himself they all pointed to Christ let me say it again religion exists for the purpose of telling people they can escape the consequence of their sin they can escape the inevitable judgment of whatever God that religion espouses by following certain moral pathways or ceremonial activities they all lie they all lie religion is more deceptive than air religion religion is the most deceptive thing in the world Satan disguises himself as what an angel of light he's a deceiver and all of his agents are deceivers and all of his angels are deceivers what Paul says in in chapter 8 is this there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus that's it that is exclusive and inclusive in second Thessalonians chapter 1 we read this in verse 7 the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction who is going to pay the penalty of eternal destruction who will realize divine wrath and condemnation those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that's why acts 4:12 says there's no salvation in any other name that's why John 14 says no one comes to the Father but by me that is the only way Christ is the only Savior Christianity is the only true religion so the condemnation is just it is just inherited from Adam yes but just because all men demonstrate the sinful nature that they inherited and they have no capacity to rise above it and when they face the law it doesn't help them it even does more damage look at Romans 7 verse 9 well back to verse 8 sin taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting of every kind what a strange statement Paul actually says when I came under the law the law made things worse he says in verse 7 I wouldn't have known about coveting if the law hadn't said don't covet so when I read the law of God far from making me a better person far from enabling me to escape condemnation it escalates my guilt I was once he says in verse 9 alive from part from the law when I didn't know the law god I thought I was fine but when the commandment came sin became alive and I died and this commandment which was to result in life proved to result in death for me for sin taking an opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me the law is holy the commandment is holy righteous and good but I'm not so you become religious you try to be moral follow the ceremonies all that does is increase your guilt which increases your condemnation the law just excites evil go back to verse 5 of chapter 7 while we were in the flesh the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death the law of God just excited our passions it's as if if you make a rule of something we shouldn't do we all of a sudden have a big desire to do it whatever is restricted so all men are condemned in Adam that condemnation is just because they are wicked and not righteous in fact the law of God will only compound their guilt and escalate their condemnation and then if they don't obey the gospel if they don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ they're condemned already I said some weeks ago that most people think does they live their life if I do a few good things and I'll meet God someday and God will say let me look at the record here yeah you did pretty well and the decision will be rendered on that day know this the decision regarding your eternal condemnation has been made already if you believe not on the son you are condemned already that's settled so how do you escape that condemnation only only in Christ chapter five of Romans begins having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through our Lord Jesus Christ we are declared righteous he that believes is not condemned if you are in Christ there is no condemnation in fact as one man's sin condemned us all Romans 5:18 one act of righteousness namely Christ resulted in justification to life for us all the specific term condemnation is cata krema years only in Romans it focuses on the punishment more than the judgment which would be cata krisis it speaks of the penalty itself so what it's saying is there will be no penalty no penalty exacted on those who are in Christ no strong negative odain no not a single bit of condemnation like in matthew 18 27 when the man was forgiven his large debt and had no obligation to pay anything this is the wonderful message of the Christian gospel this is the good news and why it's called good news the believer will never be condemned why is that because God will forgive those who are in Christ in Christ to borrow the language of Colossians 1:12 God the Father has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the glorious light of eternal heaven we are fit for eternity we will never be condemned never in fact in John 5:24 Jesus said the one who believes in Him will not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life yes we still sin yes the battle still rages yes but we will never be condemned if you have a King James or New King James you'll see another line in that first verse that isn't in the oldest and best manuscripts it looks like somewhere along in history a scribe picked it up from verse 4 and also put it into verse 1 it's the very same statement we'll get to in verse 4 but the manuscripts the most trustworthy ones have nothing more than that statement therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus that is a powerful direct statement that should be the number-one promise to which all of us as believers cling how wonderful is it to be beyond the reach of condemnation no matter how much we struggle and there are Christian people who needlessly fear that somehow because of something they've done they've lost their salvation not possible not possible there is no condemnation strong language there will be no sentence no punishment and the rest of the chapters demonstrates that until it finally culminates in nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus chapter 5 says if we are in Christ if you've come to him as Lord and Savior confess to him repented of your sin embraced him as Lord and Savior you're at peace with God that is an eternal peace chapter 6 says you're not only at peace with God you're in union with Jesus Christ chapter 7 chapter 7 then goes on to say you have been delivered you have been set free chapter 6 and 7 from sin chapter 8 now says there's no condemnation and ends up saying you're gonna be brought into eternal glory the Apostle is setting forth the fact that even though we struggle and we do we can rejoice in this promise be joyful believer you will never be condemned Christ took your condemnation Christ's sanctifying self-sacrifice paid in full the accumulated debt and the curse for all the sins of God's people because of the sacrifice of Christ the law was satisfied he paid the penalty in full he became sin for us who knew no sin he bore in his body our sins to condemn us would be double jeopardy Paul says if you're in Christ if you're in that union with him by faith there will never be punishment for you that means that there will be no punishment you're not going to go to heaven even as a believer and have all kinds of bad things thrown up on some screen as I've heard people say and you're gonna get whacked around or lose some heavenly benefit because of ugly things nothing you will ever see in eternal glory will bear any mark of sin against you Christ bore all the punishment for that this takes us back to the point of being in Christ go back to chapter 6 verse 3 do you not know that all of us have been baptized into Christ it's not talking about water baptism it's the word immersed we have all literally been immersed into Christ Jesus we've been immersed into his death we have been buried with him through this spiritual immersion into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father so we too might walk in newness of life in other words we died in him and we rose in him verse five if we have become United with him in the likeness of his death certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection we were there in his death we're there in his resurrection we died with him we rose with him our old self verse six was crucified with him the body of sin done away no longer slaves to sin freed from sin verse eight we died with Christ we'll also live with him knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again death no longer is master over him for the death that he died he died to sin once for all but the life he lives he lives to God even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus what an incredible truth you died in Christ you rose in Christ you died in him because he paid the penalty for your sins you rose in him because he credited to you his perfect life 1st Corinthians 15:22 says as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive you're not a Christian if you're not in Christ you're not a Christian if Christ is not in you this union was symbolized even in the Old Testament when the high priest went before God he had on his chest twelve stones representing the twelve tribes of the children of Israel so that when he appeared before God all the people appeared in him just as all believers appear before God on the heart of the great High Priest the Lord Jesus Christ we are one with him it's hard to improve on the language of the seventeenth chapter of John concerning that back in John chapter 17 verse 21 he's praying that they all may be one even as you Father are in me and I in you that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me the glory which you have given me I have given to them that they may be one just as we are one I in them and you in me that they may be perfected in unity so the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you love me what an incredible statement father loves us the same way he loves the son because we're in the son that is why there's no condemnation because if there is condemnation then Christ must be condemned because we are in Christ and since Christ cannot be condemned holy harmless and separate from sinners we in Christ can never be condemned we are not under condemnation go back to verse 2 here's the reason for the spirit the law or the principle the function of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus the spirit is the one who gave us life in Christ regenerated us placed us into Christ has set you free from the law of sin and death from the principle that sin leads to condemnation and death the law of sin what what is it what is the law of sin well it's mentioned a number of times the law of sin the law of sin is in verse 21 of chapter seven evil present in me the law of sin in verse 23 a different law in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind making me a prisoner of the there it is the law of sin in my members in my unredeemed flesh verse 25 the end of the verse with my flesh the law of sin the law of sin is simply the principle of sin the operative principle of sin that leads to death the wages of sin is death that's how chapter 6 ended verse 23 the wages of sin is death the law of sin or the principle of the operative power of sin though it's power is diminished and though it's punishment is already taken by Christ it still remains in our flesh it can defeat us listen it can never condemn us because the spirit of life who placed us into Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death that's what salvation is the spirit of life who is that verse six tells us it says in verse six the Spirit is life verse 11 it says that is the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead so this is the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit has literally placed us into Christ and in so doing we have been set free from the operative principle of sin that leads to death and condemnation so there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ how did we come to be in Christ the life-giving spirit in the work of regeneration placed us into Christ Jesus and at that point we were free from the law of sin and death because in Christ the penalty has been paid in full we died in him and we rise in him to walk in newness of life yes as second Corinthians 3:6 says the Spirit gives life back in John 3 isn't that what Jesus said to Nicodemus you must be born of the Spirit the Spirit gives life so what do we learn the work of the Spirit initially the Spirit gives us life and the Spirit frees us from condemnation joy joy right what a promise that's just the beginning more to come Lord your word does come with power it is born on the wings of the Divine Spirit as it rises from the pages of Holy Scripture to touch our minds we respond to your word [Music] differently than the world who understands not the things of God they're spiritually discerned and those who are unconverted and condemned are spiritually dead and cannot perceive the truth but for us your word is life and light and power and promise and blessing and joy we worship you for the great grace given to us we deserve to be condemned as those who inherited the sinful nature of Adam as those who have constantly violated your law and the more we were exposed to your law the more violations we perpetrated against your law and your holy will and we were triply condemned because we rejected your son but we thank you the spirit gave us life we thank you that you chose us before the foundation of the world you've predestined us and your spirit gave us life and you justified us and you have promised us no condemnation our hearts are filled with thankfulness we're overwhelmed by your goodness to us and we lift up our hearts in thankful praise and worship the truth is your grace is far greater than our sin we thank you for that we have much more to learn instruct us and fill our hearts with thanks and praise we ask you to save his name amen

Channel: Grace to You

Views: 135,249

Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You

Id: IOTHz8keK3U

Length: 47min 58sec (2878 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 25 2020