Romans Chapter 8:1-2

The world has long been trying to figure out how to deal with guilt, how to deal with shame. Now some psychiatrists or psychologists will say, well, guilt is just something a human invented. And my question would be, why?

No, it's not us. That's the conviction of the Holy Spirit that draws us to the Lord. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the Senior Pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. As we continue to live by the Spirit of God and deny our earthly self, we have to remember that conviction draws us to God while condemnation pulls us away.

How do we tell the difference? Find out today as Pastor David continues in the book of Romans, chapter 8. But before we get into today's teaching, the devil is able to influence so many Christians today because they simply don't know their Bibles. And if the enemy can keep you ignorant about God's Word, he can keep you weak. That's why we want to send you Pastor David's DVD message, Romans from Rome, recorded in the heart of ancient Rome.

This eye-opening teaching will show you beyond a doubt the historical accuracy of the Bible. Romans from Rome is our way of saying thank you for your gift today to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So go to crossthebridge.com to request your copy.

Again, that's crossthebridge.com. Now here's David Magee with his teaching, You Can Rise Above It All. So Romans, chapter 8. It's an awesome chapter. It is an awesome chapter. This is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. And not just myself, but as I was reading through some commentaries and whatnot, many commentators, J. Vernon Magee and different folks are like, man, this chapter is the bomb. Well, J. Vernon didn't say that, but you know, it's an incredible chapter. And I'll tell you what, friend, if over the next few weeks as we go through this chapter, if you will read this chapter once a week, and some of you are really gung ho and read it once a day for the next month or once a week is kind of minimum commitment, but if you do that, your life will change. The Word of God will not return void.

It will accomplish that which it was set forth to do. This whole chapter is about the freedom of the believer. I mean, it's an incredible chapter. It opens up with no condemnation.

It closes with no separation. And in the middle, it talks about how everything's going to work together for good for those that love God. Friend, I'm telling you, this chapter, I did this. I read it every day for a month. It changed my Christian life.

So I encourage you to do the same because this is like a declaration of freedom. It's a declaration of dependence upon the Holy Spirit for Christian living. So it's incredible.

It's incredible. So there's the intro. Romans chapter 8, verse 1. 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. See, the last chapter, notice it says there is therefore. Whenever there is a therefore in the Bible, as a student of the Bible, you're supposed to ask what it's there for. And it says therefore. What? Therefore. He's building a case.

What's it built on? Well, chapter 7. Chapter 7, it's just, you know, I kind of hated stopping in the middle of chapter 7 as we went through it because Paul's in just this miserable state and he's getting beat up by his old nature. And, you know, we go through a few verses and we need to close and we're going to leave Paul like that, you know. But the chapter closes and he says, I thank God that can be delivered from this body of death through Jesus Christ. And then he says, because of that, you can be free. Now, you cannot be free of condemnation apart from Christ.

You can't. The world has long been trying to figure out how to deal with guilt, how to deal with shame. Now, some psychiatrists or psychologists will say, well, guilt is just something a human invented. And my question would be, why? Why would we come up with something like that?

I mean, just to ruin a good time or something. No, it's not us. That's the conviction of the Holy Spirit that draws us to the Lord. And it says in Christ. In Christ.

Not apart from Christ. There's no condemnation in Christ. It says only in Christ you can be free.

What does it mean in Christ? There's an interesting play on words when you go back to Noah when they're talking about, and the verse reads in the English, it says cover the ark with pitch. What's interesting is the word cover there, the Hebrew word kophar, where we actually get our word for cover, is more like an atoning or an atonement, which is kind of interesting wordplay. So atoning the ark. So it's sealed.

It's covered. Well, Noah and his family went through the flood in the ark. They weren't going through the flood going, I don't know if I'm going to make it. No, they were safe in the boat.

They were hanging on the outside going, I don't know if I'm going to make it through the storm. No, they were in the ark. I'll give you another description. Let me go ahead and say, you know, I was the youngest of three brothers. I was horrible to my brothers, but I don't tell those stories. When I was a little kid, my parents were playing golf. They decided to take us. I don't know why.

I was like five, six, seven, something like that. And so my middle brother, he said, there's a little bar on the outside of the golf cart. I said, hold on to that bar. Whatever you do, don't let go. Because if you let go, you could get really, really hurt.

You know, someone. OK, I won't let go. I won't let go. I'll hold on to it. So then he gets in the driver's seat and punches the gas.

I'm on. Let me say again. I'm on the outside of the golf cart. I can't keep up with the golf cart.

So, you know, mom and dad are on the other side and they're watching as I'm going. I'm holding on for dear life. Why? My brother said I'd die if I let go. That is not the Christian life.

That's what some people think the Christian life is. If I let go, I'll die. Jesus has a hold of you. You're not on the outside of the golf cart getting beat to death. You're on the inside. You're in the ark.

You're in the golf cart. You're in Christ. And because of that, no condemnation. No condemnation.

Some of you walked in here today condemned. You're letting the past beat you up. You need to let go of it.

You need to let go of it. Now, some of us long suffer from the consequences of some things we've done. But we can be forgiven of all those things. I went through this. There was some things I did that I just I felt so bad about for so long. And every time I would go to pray, I'd ask the Lord again to forgive me of these events. I remember so clearly one day as I was praying once again.

I heard that still small voice of the Lord. He said, Is it not enough? What do you mean, is it not enough, Lord? He said, Is it not enough that I hung on a cross and I bled and I died for you to forgive you of these things? Are you saying that my blood was not enough to cover these?

It'll cover other things, but it won't cover these events. I said, God, I'm so sorry. I know now that you've forgiven me of these things and I'll let go of them. See, God takes our sins and He throws them into the sea of forgetfulness and puts up a sign and says, No fishing. See, let go of the past. Why? Because the past, friend, will condemn you. And what happens when you get condemned from the past?

You become bound up and you're going to repeat the past. Why? Because you're going, Well, I messed up. Have you ever gone to pray, get up to pray in the morning, go, Well, I'm going to get up early and I'm going to pray for like 30 minutes or whatever, you know, and then you hit the snooze alarm a couple of times and you're like, Oh, man, there's only 15 minutes left. You know, I'm just not going to pray now.

I just, you know. What happened? Condemnation beat you down. That's what happens to a lot of believers. But Paul here is saying it doesn't have to happen to you. And what happens is now there's a difference between conviction and condemnation. This verse is not telling you that if you do something bad, you don't have to feel wrong about it.

That's not what it's saying. That would be an abuse of this verse. What it's saying is when you mess up, you come to the Lord, you can be forgiven. Now there's two things, conviction and condemnation. Conviction draws us to God. Condemnation drives us from God. Conviction draws us to God.

Condemnation drives us from God. So in other words, when you do something wrong, there's two roads to take. You can say, you know what? I messed up. I need to ask God to forgive me.

And you do it. And then part of you can't wait to go worship or come here on a Thursday night or Sunday morning. That's conviction.

That's a great, awesome thing. Condemnation is like, Oh, you know what? I messed up. I can't go to church. I can't pray.

How can I read my Bible? I messed up. Now the enemy wants you condemned.

Why? Because it will crush you spiritually. The Lord, the Holy Spirit, wants you convicted so that you'll come to Him. And we get to decide, friend, whether we're convicted or condemned.

If we run from God and don't ask Him to forgive us, that weight of our sins and our wrongdoing will simply crush us. Let's remember John 3.18 says this, He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So people say sometimes, well, God's condemning everybody.

No, actually, everybody's already condemned. God's wanting to forgive people and set them free. And we're reminded here that Jesus didn't come to condemn. He came to forgive. Now, again, if we don't respond to conviction, that condemnation will come.

I've been through it. And your sin will do one or the other. It'll either convict you or it'll condemn you. It'll convict you, draw you to God. It'll condemn you and push you away from God.

Well, how do you tell which one happens? Friend, it's all up to you. You make the decision when you come to God. I've been through it. I do something wrong. It's weighing on me. Then I come to Lord. Lord, I'm so sorry I did this. I shouldn't have said that or should have felt that or thought, you know, and it's just lifted.

And then sometimes, strangely enough, I walk around with it. Stirring in me. And I used to think and this is really twisted, but I used to think that after you messed up, you had to kind of walk around with it for a while and feel bad enough for long enough before you could ask God to forgive you.

I thought that was very spiritual. You know, I'm going to wait till I feel really, really bad, you know, till I can walk under the car without stooping down. I want to feel really low. And then when I feel really low, then I'll ask God to forgive me. You know, I found as time went on, I wasn't more likely to ask God to forgive me.

I was less likely. As a matter of fact, there's been times in my life when I let those things drive me away from the Lord. And I've learned to ask God to forgive me quickly and often.

Quickly and often. You think back on the garden. I don't know if you've ever thought of this, but why? Why did Adam hide and run when God came in the garden? Adam, where are you? He was over there hiding fig leaf and the whole drill.

Why didn't he just say, God, I blew it, man. I am so sorry. You told me not to do that and I did it and I'm sorry. But instead, what did he do?

Well, God, it was that woman you gave me and we talked about this. There was only three people, God, Adam and Eve, and Adam blamed the other two rather than repent. See, while you're blaming other people, you can't really ask for forgiveness for something. Why did Adam run? Why did Adam hide? Why didn't he just ask God to forgive him?

I don't know. Why will you do it today? Because the same decision really is in front of each and every one of us today. You can say, God, I'm sorry.

Please forgive me. Or you can run and hide and blame others. That's a decision. You know, it's a great academic discussion to say, well, why did Adam do this?

But no, no, no, let's make it a little more personal. Why do we do what we do? And why will some in here decide to run and hide today when a God of mercy, God of grace is speaking to us through his word and saying, you can come to me, ask me for forgiveness, and you will have no condemnation. I don't know about you, but no condemnation sounds pretty awesome.

Pretty awesome. You can be redeemed. If you're anxious about your future, God will reassure you about it.

You've done something in the present. God will forgive you of it. He assures us towards the last part of this chapter. He's not going to be separated from you.

If you're convicted, dare I say some people are probably haunted by the past. Today, run to the cross. Friends, some of you are carrying burdens that you were never meant to carry around, and it's crushing you, and you can have that lifted off of you.

You don't have to be trapped by that. You can come to Jesus and Jesus say, well, you know, like he did with the forgiven woman in John chapter 8. Some people refer to her as the adulterous woman, which I think is just a sad comment on Christianity sometimes. In the Bible, chapter 8 of John, it's like the adulterous woman.

How sad is that? That's what she was before she met Jesus. When she came to Jesus, she was the forgiven woman, and Jesus said, go and sin no more.

Now, I don't think Jesus looked down and went, go and sin no more, woman. I think he said, you know what, you don't have to be trapped by this anymore. You don't have to live the lifestyle that you've been living. I want to forgive you and set you free from your past. And, I mean, there was encouragement not to be trapped, not to do those same things. But he was saying, you're set free from all that.

Gang, we can be set free today, today. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's Word in just a moment.

But first, so many people today are losing faith simply because they don't know how much real evidence there is for the truth of the Bible. We want to help you strengthen your faith so that you can live the abundant life God has for you by sending you Pastor David's DVD message, Romans from Rome. This insightful teaching, recorded in the heart of the ancient city of Rome, will help you see the book of Romans in its historical context and confirm your faith in the truth of God's Word. Romans from Rome is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So go to crossthebridge.com to request your copy today.

Again, that's crossthebridge.com. Now, back to today's teaching. Let's look at verse 2. It says, The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Jesus wants to rescue us from the law. Jesus wants to rescue us, set us free from our sin. See, sin doesn't, and this chapter is talking about, sin doesn't dictate to a believer what he does.

It shouldn't. See, we have this thing and we've been talking about it, yield to God, yield to your sin. When you're yielding to your sin, you're not yielding to God. When you're yielding to God, you're not yielding to your sin.

And we have that decision. God wants to set us free from all that, and we've been made free. But sin waits at the door, and it'll capture again if you let it. You can give in to the flesh or the selfish desires and stuff. And God doesn't just set us free to meet the minimum requirements. Sometimes people, you know, can you be a Christian and fill in your blank? Can you be a Christian and drink? Can you be a Christian and smoke? Can you be a Christian and run around? Can you be a Christian and smoke dope? Can you be a Christian and fill in your blank? Theologically, the answer would be yes.

And before some of you are like, oh, praise God, I found my church, man. This is the deal here, you know. Let me clarify. Yes, you can do those things, but why would you? It's just like picking up chains. That's like somebody being set free from prison and going, you know, I just kind of miss the bars.

I just want to kind of go sit back in the cell, and I just love the way that door goes. That makes no sense, does it? No, when people say, well, can I be a Christian?

And that makes no sense. Spirit of life. Spirit of life. You see, we can live, we can live above the law, not above the law and that we're free to break it. No, I mean, we can exceed the requirements of the law through the Holy Spirit. And Jesus, he raised the bar. He raised, you know, we go into the New Testament with the Ten Commandments, you know, and then Jesus says, yeah, well, that's kind of the minimum standard.

I'm going to raise the bar. They went in and said, OK, you shouldn't kill. And Jesus said, you know, not only should you not kill, but you shouldn't get angry at anybody. He said, well, it says you should not commit adultery. I'm saying you shouldn't even lust after anybody.

Wow. We think of the Ten Commandments as oppressive. It's interesting the way the world looks at the Ten Commandments because it's like there's Ten Commandments. Now, four of them are distinctly religious, you know, dealing with God, God first and remember the Sabbath and no other gods for me. But the last six are just how we should treat each other.

And it's kind of a mystery to me that somebody would have a problem with the last six. You know, I mean, basically God said, look, would you mind just not killing each other? Would you mind not stealing each other's stuff?

Would you mind not lying to each other all the time and taking people's wives and all their things? And we look at that and go, oh, that's so burdensome. No, God, can you imagine, friend, if through the power of the Holy Spirit, we kept the Ten Commandments, what this world would look like, if kids really honored their mother and father? Now, of course, we all just, if you've got kids, you just thought of your kids. I'm talking about your parents, OK?

It's fun getting convicted for somebody else, isn't it? What does this world look like? Guys, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can rise above it. The spirit of the life, he says. Too many people think Christianity is all about what happens when you die. Yeah, that's obviously part of it. But it's also how you live and you can live a victorious life.

You can have this spirit of life in Christ Jesus walking in the spirit. See, it's like, does this do away with the law? No, no, no, no. It rises above the law. Here's like the law of gravity. It's there.

I mean, it's there. If you doubt it, just, you know, jump off the top of this building. And whether you believe in the law of gravity or not, it doesn't matter.

You're going to go splat. But an airplane, because of the law of aerodynamics, can rise above the law of gravity. That's what we can do. When we read the Bible and we go, oh, I don't know if I can do that.

Oh, yeah, you can. The Wright brothers probably, there was part of them that thought, man, this ain't going to work. We're going to try it, but I don't know if it's going to work. But part of them said, no, no, I think it will work. And it did.

And it does. And we can rise above the minimum requirements, if you will. That's the life lesson. You can rise above the requirements of the law through the power of the Holy Spirit. You can rise above the requirements of the law through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you've been with us a few weeks, you're going, pastor, when we were going through chapter seven, you said we couldn't do this.

That's right. You can't. God, through the power of his Holy Spirit, can't. It's interesting to me. The first seven chapters of Romans mention the Spirit four times.

The Holy Spirit's mentioned 21 times in this chapter. God is trying to give us the key. He's trying to show us what we need and how we need it. Too many think we're going to be made happy by what's outside of us. That's not going to happen. See, we set these things up, well, if this happens, I'll be happy. If that happens, I'll be happy.

I've done it before. If I find success in music, I'll be happy. If I get this, I'll be happy.

I would find those things and go, wow, this is it? This year isn't what I thought it'd be. Friend, if you're living like that, you can be set free from that. Happiness doesn't depend on what happens.

It depends upon the Lord. If you know Jesus as your Savior, you can have joy. You don't have to say, well, I'll be happy if, I'll be happy when. No, you can be happy this morning. If you don't know Jesus, guess what? You can be happy this morning because I'm going to give you a chance before we get finished here to come to Jesus. And if you're chasing it, oh, no, no, that ain't going to work.

Ain't going to happen. Do you think, oh my goodness, God loves you so much, he's going to say, oh, well, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to kind of tease you like that little carrot stick thing.

And happiness depends on you getting a raise and you getting a house and you getting, oh, it's out there. Oh, you're close. Oh, no, no, no, no.

No, no. When I was a little kid and learning how to swim, you know, my cousin go, hey, swim to me, you know, and I put my head down and start swimming and I'd look up and he'd be farther away. And he kept doing it. I was like, dude, what are you doing? He thought I wouldn't notice, I guess.

Yes, I had a tragic childhood. God's not like that. God to each and every one of us today right now is going here. Here it is. Here's joy. Here's happiness. Here's forgiveness.

Here's your solution. He's not running away from you. He's running to you and saying, gang, here it is. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that He died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask Him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him.

And He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll-free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Before we go, we want to help you strengthen your faith so that you can experience the power of truly knowing and believing God's Word. That's why we want to send you Pastor David's DVD message, Romans from Rome.

This insightful resource recorded in the heart of the ancient city of Rome gives you a much deeper understanding of the historical context of the entire New Testament, meaning you'll know God's Word better. Romans from Rome is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So go to crossthebridge.com now to request your copy today.

Again, that's crossthebridge.com. You know each day comes with its share of stresses. So what better way to wake up than with an encouraging word from the Lord? Visit crossthebridge.com and sign up now for David Magee's email devotionals. Each devotion includes scripture and a message from the heart of David Magee. It's easy and it's free. Sign up today at crossthebridge.com. And be sure to join us next time on Cross the Bridge with David Magee to hear more from the Book of Romans. We'll see you then.