Paul begins Romans 8 talking about what can God do for sinners like us.
Let me once again clarify the term sinners…we’re not all sinners…we all at times sin…but that doesn’t make us sinners…unbelievers are referred to as sinners…they have no choice to do otherwise…every place throughout Scripture except for one place Christians are referred to as saints…we are not sinners.
A sinner is someone who is living in sin…who is willfully and deliberately living a lifestyle that is opposed to Christian standards…Scripture doesn’t call faithful Christians “sinners,” it calls them “saints.”
So, in that sense NO… we’re not all sinners.
But that’s the mindset that deceives people into believing I’m not that bad… we’re all in this together…we’re all sinners…NO we’re NOT.
Last week I concluded my sermon with a dilemma that every serious Christian has probably repeatedly thought about…Paul ended chapter 7 crying out in frustration about his wretchedness…a dilemma that is present in the lives of every believer:
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not what I
want, but I do the very thing I hate…For I have the desire to do
what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing (Romans 7:15, 18-19)
Anyone who is serious about following Christ has experienced the frustration in what Paul is saying…of wanting to obey Christ…wanting to please God… wanting to do good…but it seems as if the power to do good is just out of our grasp…so we end up doing the things we hate.
Given this struggle, Paul says two things:
FIRST…There is a noticeable shift in Paul’s personal outlook from Romans 7 to Romans 8…in Romans 7 one of the words Paul identifies himself with is “I” …mentioned 33 times.
In Romans 8 Paul realizes that the only way a believer can live out the life God has called him to is through the ‘spirit’ …so in Romans 8 Paul uses the word “spirit” 20 times… previous to that he used the word “spirit” only 4 times.
Having come to that conclusion Paul reveals the answer to his dilemma:
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body
of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)
Notice what Paul doesn’t say. He doesn’t say, “Wretched man that I am! What must I do?”…he says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me?”
First you have to know who your deliverer is before you can ask what must I do to be saved…the answer isn’t to try harder.
The second thing Paul says is what I want to look at today…what are the consequences of my actions?
There are consequences to sin…it affects us…affects family and friends… and affects our church…it affects our fellowship with God.
With respect to ourselves…as believers the Holy Spirit convicts us when we do wrong (John 16:7-8) then when we repent we’re made right again…however, in the case of the believer who refuses to repent, sin can catapult into deeper sin.
The consequences of unrepented sin is that God gives the sinner over to ‘the sinful desires of their hearts’ [Romans 1:24, 26, 28] …this means that God will allow you to serve the sin you have chosen as your god…and then let you reap the destruction of that choice…it is a fearful thing to be ‘given over’ to our own destructive ways.
Scripture reveals that certain sins may have lasting consequences…there’s a distinction between forgiveness and consequences…God will forgive the sin… but He may not remove the earthly consequences of that sin.
God’s pardon does not always eliminate the consequences of personal sin in this life…. many examples of earthly consequences of sin in the Bible reveal that sins do have lasting consequences.
—Adam and Eve were banned from the Garden
—Moses forced to flee Egypt after killing an Egyptian soldier
—Jonah swallowed by a fish for not obeying God
—Tiny town of AI defeated the entire nation of Israel
—Baby of David and Bathsheba died because of David’s murder and adultery.
—Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and died instantly
—Korah and his associates died when the earth swallowed them alive.
Then there’s the consequences imposed on us by society…certain laws that the government has deemed illegal.
When people are caught committing these sins, even if they repent and are restored to renewed fellowship with God…they may suffer the legal consequences of that sin.
Then there’s the sin that hurts the church…my ‘private’ sin is my business…NO it’s not…it hurts the church… the truth is that as Christians we are not isolated …we are connected to other Christians and have a responsibility to one another.
Those who follow Jesus are family…we’re one body…sharing one baptism… worshipping one Lord.
What we do impacts others…there are benefits that flow from our connectedness to one another…our connectedness to other Christians means that as well as the potential for good…we have the potential to cause harm too.
Paul (1 Cor 5:6) explains how sin impacts the whole church using the metaphor of yeast…the metaphor stresses the influential impact that our actions can have …this metaphor is used as a negative example of one’s influence on others.
With respect to family and friends…like ripples on a pond our actions spread
out and affect others because everything is interconnected…our sins can have effects in the lives of other people and in other relationships…and to even further complicate that…we need to remember that our actions are irreversible.
Even if we don’t feel those effects…the fact is that all sin…both big and small is rebellion against God.
Need to realize that sin does not threaten the security of our salvation…BUT…
certain sins have lasting consequences…BUT the condemnation associated with those sins is forgotten.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1-2).
I put this verse right alongside John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:8-9…this is one of the most important truths of the Christian faith as well as being one of the most comforting statements in all the Bible.
The foundational truth of Romans 8 is that there can never be the eternal death penalty for believers.
If you’re familiar with the name…Martyn Lloyd-Jones…this is what he has said about this verse: to get ahold of this idea is to discover the most glorious truth you will ever know in your life.
Paul starts off using the single word in the Greek (3762) we translate as ‘there is no’ which is a powerful negating conjunction…that word leaves no room for an exception…no such thing as well we’ll look at you on a case by case basis…NO …its meaning is emphatic, not one; no one, nothing…no condemnation.
Paul then uses a legal term…something he does regularly in Scripture…a word that is only used three times in the entire New Testament…the word ‘condemnation’ …used here it has a more severe meaning than what we think of in the English which is ‘the expression of very strong disapproval.’
In the Greek it’s stronger than that…it means a sentence handed down after due process…it is a legal term that includes both the sentence and the execution of the sentence.
In chapter 7 Paul built a case that we’re all guilty before God…there’s not one person…religious or not who escapes…nobody measures up to God’s standard …no one can stand before God boldly with their record exposed…we’re all in big trouble…as a result…comes the sentencing that accompanies that verdict.
BUT… Here’s what Paul says is the verdict…there is no verdict: (Romans 8:1).
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
We are completely free from any debt or penalty…it doesn’t even exist anymore …it’s gone forever…Here’s what that means:
If you are in Christ there is no reason why you should ever experience fear or apprehension about your relationship with God or your eternal destiny
The judgment and condemnation that accompanies sin no longer exists…It’s gone.
BUT…this is not for everyone…easy believesim has contaminated this verse… ONLY when we are in Christ Jesus does everything change…only when we are in Christ Jesus is there no condemnation.
To be in Christ means that we are in an actual relationship with Jesus because we’re united with him.
Paul says once we are united in Christ…in a relationship with him…then there is no longer any condemnation for us…it’s gone and it can never come back.
The problem for a lot of us is the mistaken idea that our standing with God is based on our performance.
To put it in theological terms…we base our justification (our standing before God) on our sanctification (our growth in holiness).
A misunderstand regarding these truths puts us in a precarious position…again Lloyd-Jones describes what it looks like if we don’t get this truth:
As Christians if we confess our sin and ask for forgiveness, it’s forgiven…at that moment we are not under condemnation…BUT…the mistaken idea is…if we should sin again, we’re back once more under condemnation.
So we go through life repenting and confessing…and being forgiven… constantly passing from one state to the other; back and forth; condemned, not condemned…according to Paul that is a mistaken notion, and a complete failure to understand forgiveness.
The Christian is a person who can never be condemned…can never come into a state of condemnation again…‘No condemnation!’ the apostle is referring to his position…his standing…his status…being justified…he can never again come under condemnation. That is the meaning of this word ‘no’. It means ‘Never’.
Here’s when this happens…it’s in the present tense…. It’s Not when we get older…Not when we get more mature….Not when we overcome our sinful habits…Not when we learn more of the Bible…Not when people start treating us nicely and with respect…Not when we get the praise we think we deserve …Not when our enemies stop persecuting us…Not when the wrongs against us have been put right…Not when we get our act together…IT’S NOW. (Sam Storms)
But that’s not all…need to understand Paul’s reasoning behind this declaration …this is where Resurrection Sunday comes in…Bible comments on the reason for Jesus’ resurrection:
And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. [1 Cor. 15:17]
Without Christ’s resurrection we would all still be condemned…Bible says so… you are still guilty of your sins.
Jesus’ resurrection is not a fairy tale but an historical fact that was witnessed by many hundreds of people…if Jesus had not been raised from the dead then everything about the gospel and our faith in Jesus would be false.
It means that Christ has not been raised…and all those who claim a bodily resurrection from the dead are wrong…and if the gospel is not true then a believer’s faith is foolishness.
Furthermore, it means that preachers have misled their hearers and are nothing more than liars…if Christ has not been raised from the dead, He certainly has not conquered sin…in fact sin has conquered Him.
Those who died believing in Christ are to be pitied for putting up with hardships and the hope of living a Christian life with the promise of a better life to come… because without Jesus’ resurrection there is no future life.
BUT…Jesus’ resurrection guarantees the resurrection of all believers…they will not merely be brought back to life, but they will enter into a new kind of life…one where death will no longer have any part…this victorious resurrection of believers will take place at Christ’s second return.
Here’s the warning that goes along with the promise of no condemnation…this blessing of no condemnation is not for everyone
It is only for those who are “in Christ Jesus.” …there are only two categories of people…those who are in Adam; and those who are in Christ…either you are saved or you are lost.
Those who are in Adam (unsaved) are under God’s condemnation and face His judgment for their sins…those in Christ have been declared righteous…His death paid the penalty for all of their sins.
It’s no trivial question to ask, “Are you in Christ Jesus?” …have you accepted Jesus as your Savior…as your only refuge from God’s judgment?
When God destroyed the world through the flood, the only thing that mattered was, were you in the ark? …you were either in the ark or you were back stroking…you may have thought that you were a decent person, but if you weren’t in the ark, you perished.
Countless people believed they would be in the ark…or believed that God wasn’t going to judge the earth because He’s too loving…just because they didn’t believe it didn’t change the fact that it happened…and only the ones who got on board the ark were saved…the rest were left to tread water.
So…on this Resurrection Sunday let me ask…have you “gotten on board” with Jesus …if you’re in Him, you’re safe from the judgment to come…if you’re trusting in your own ability, you’re under condemnation!