Once the Ark was completed, he did not say, Noah, I want you to drive stakes, pins on the outside of the Ark. And you and your family, when the floods come, you hold on to those stakes. And as long as you don't let go, you'll be all right.
But if you let go, you're done. That's not what God told him. God shut them in. This is what the cross of Christ does. This gives license to Paul saying there's now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Romans.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick as he continues with his message called Worth an Introduction in Romans Chapter 8. New Testament grace is not given to make the sinner feel good about themselves or about sin. New Testament grace is given that we would recognize that the demonstrated love of Christ for sinners is real. That goes back to chapter 5 in verse 8 where it says in Romans, God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You can answer it and say, why aren't you in church?
That's the answer. Unless it's an emergency, why are you calling me on a Sunday morning? Now, it happens to all of us and I don't feel too bad, but I feel a little bad because you can't help it. But now I'm showing grace.
And you are too by not throwing the phone at me for calling you out. So there we go. Anyway, John chapter 3, he who believes in him is not condemned. So Paul didn't just think this up. I say that because there are groups, they're small, little sex that say, well, we believe in the Bible, just not anything Paul said. They want to escape, you know, they want to be homosexual and go worship at the same time and somehow be accepted.
And not only that they're struggling, and they're not struggling with it, that's the problem. They're advocates of these things. And there are other groups too. Then what do you do with Peter who says, listen, Paul's writing is a scripture. As they twist the other scriptures, they twist Paul's words too. So there are those out there that want Paul to go away. Well, Paul is quoting Christ here, where Jesus says, he who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And there's the commentary on the life of Christ and what he is to mean to those who come in touch with him. So I trust Christ to deliver me from the curse of sin in spite of me because he said so.
That's why. That's what faith is. Mary, she gives us a flash of that when she says, do what he says. It's just a flash of I trust him.
He has the answers. And when God said, this is my beloved son, hear him, he wasn't joking around, he was very serious about that. Sin must be condemned in our own hearts. And if it's not, your very salvation could fall into question. To be in Christ is to hate sin, its purpose, its presence, its power, its penalty. Four P's there.
I didn't pop one of them. Anyway, thank you. So he says here in verse one, to those who are in Christ Jesus, people are either in Christ Jesus or out of Christ Jesus.
There's no middle ground. Yeah, there are those that may be on the verge of conversion, but they're not there yet. They got to make that confession. Hebrews nine, Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many to those. Well, that's what it just says here, to those who are in Christ Jesus here in verse one of Romans eight. And then in Hebrews chapter nine, to those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. Well, who are those that eagerly wait for him? Those who love him. No condemnation in Christ, no salvation outside of Christ.
A very basic formula. In Christ, now, no condemnation in Christ. It doesn't say, now there are no mistakes in Christ. It does not say there are no failures in Christ. It does not say there are no sins in Christ, but no condemnation.
Those things are there and God knows how to handle them without hurting the believer. The consequence of sin and condemnation by sin are not the same thing. There can be a consequence to sin that you've been forgiven.
That's David, David and Bathsheba. They committed sin. There was a consequence to it, but there was ultimately no condemnation.
The mercy of God. I hope we Christians, when we hold the world accountable to sin, that we never apologize for the terms that God gives. The role of the believer is not to change the message for any reason. Even if unbelievers rage against us, changing the message of the scripture is not only a crime spiritually, it is the crime of spiritual fraud. But it also hands unbelief and the devil a victory. And the devil knows how to take advantage of a victory.
He knows how to exploit a victory. Changing or modifying God's word is unnecessary and it is spiritually deadly and I insert that here because when we tell the world there's no condemnation in Christ, there's no salvation outside of Christ, they're not going to like it. Well, we're not delivering a message based on whether they like it or not. We're delivering the message because it is true. And an example of not listening to God, of having the message modified, of handing the victory to Satan is right there in Genesis 3.
It's not the only place, but it's early on. Who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit? Now, this is a super distinction. And if you're not careful, you might think it is saying there's no condemnation for those who walk the right way, who don't mess up. That's not what it's saying.
In fact, he's going to repeat this in verse 4. Some commentators don't even know what to do with this and they try to say, well, this is an interpolation. Somebody's added this, it doesn't belong here. I don't agree with that.
I think it belongs right there where it is. What it is doing is making a distinction between those who are saved and those who are in the flesh unsaved. There's no condemnation to those who are Christians who walk according to the spirit.
You can't really be a Christian any other way. Those walking according to the flesh in Paul's neighborhood at this time were the Jews who demanded circumcision Saturdays and diets. Interestingly enough, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not strictly follow these. Moses, the giver of the law, he neglected to keep the circumcision in the wilderness.
Joshua had to do it once they got in before they attacked Gilgal, before they made their first assault. And so there's interesting facts that none of them were rejected for failing to keep ritual. They were men of faith, each one. Well, the first 11 verses of Romans 8 are a contrast between the saved and the lost. This is the most difficult part of this 8th chapter, I think. After you get past verse 11, it sort of just opens up.
But the reason why it is difficult is I think it's only difficult if you fail to realize he's making a contrast between the saved and the lost. Grace writes paid in full at the cross of Christ. Jesus said it is finished. Now unfortunately, there are those legalistic type Christians who don't really understand New Testament grace, that whisper, it is finished only if you do this or that, so long as you don't mess up too much. It's unfortunate.
They sneak it in. Believe and you will do better. That's the New Testament. Not behave or you're really not saved.
See, this is what they do. Jesus said there's one sin that won't be forgiven. But there are those that say that's right.
And here are the 50 ones that go with it. And none of them I do. Others do them. So let's be careful. Our goal is not to, we're not trying to add people to hell. We're trying to get them into heaven. We're not trying to put boards on the door so they can't escape the burning building.
We're trying to get them out. And when we understand these things, you who are spiritual will better be able to restore such a one who has stumbled. But when you get somebody who has committed some sin, and it has been brought to the surface by the Holy Spirit, and they get uppity and obnoxious when you hold them accountable, then let the Lord deal with them. They'll be in worse shape. They'll be in worse shape if he's got to deal with them when they have rejected the gentle correcting steps of the church.
And that is just a fact. Paul, when you get to Corinthians chapter 5 and 6, Paul bears that as, turn them over to Satan. Let Satan deal with him because the Lord's going to withdraw. But when that person came back and said, you own this sin, he was restored.
There's serious business and we should know these things. So coming back to this portion of Romans 8 verse 1, let's look at the believer's heart. Psalm 19. This is, as he says these words, there's a passion here.
There's a genuineness. There's a purity that's uncommon to those who do not know the God of Scripture. He says, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Yahweh, my strength and my Redeemer. That's just one verse of the psalm. In that psalm he talks about the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
A life of religious behavior changes nothing. If you're just religious, that's not what contributes to the kingdom. It is the life related to Christ. And I want to bear that out in a moment. But that life that is related to Christ, it creates a desire, a quest to be as much like Christ as is doable for me. It is this desire to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. These are evidences of the soul that loves the Lord and is not fooling around with him. Let all men be a liar. God is not mocked.
You will not be able to deceive him. So in being saved, I discover that while I am grateful that I am no longer condemned or I am uncondemned, I'm not satisfied with that. That is not enough. If you are a Christian and you hear the Scripture say there is now therefore no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus and you are satisfied with that and you're not going any further, you are damaged more than what you should be. Because we're all damaged to some degree, but you're letting that damage create a rust that should have been halted. We have to God against spiritual complacency because of these great truths in the Scripture. I want to give back to God.
It's just a natural response, well pardon me, it's a spiritual response. Isaiah exhibits this for us in the sixth chapter. Whom shall I send?
Who will go for us? And Isaiah responds to the Lord, send me. Here I am.
Send me. And what was his first sermon to be? One of condemnation. Go tell these people.
They better get their act together. That was his message and he delivers it. But then we come to the New Testament and we want to see it again. What does it look like to say Lord, here I am, send me? Well, Philippians chapter 3, you'll know it when I start reading it. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ, indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. He wanted, he counted all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ, not to show off to other Christians or to debate endlessly on points of minutia, but he suffered. Suffering was the outcome of his knowledge. How many Christians don't want to suffer?
Anything. You can't correct them in church. You say listen, this is a church policy, we put the cups this way, not that way. Huh, who do you think you are? I'm out of here. Well fine, but we're going to flatten your tires so you can't get away as easily as you planned.
You can get in the flesh, we can too. No, that's ridiculous, but coming back to this Philippian verse, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. There's your passion, there's your what can I give back? There is who are you Lord, what do you want me to do? And you start off in as your Christian life and you're all excited and you start doing these things and all of a sudden you're punched in the back of the head, you're kicked in the stomach, you're slapped in the face, you're insulted, you're mocked, your family is mocked. What are you going to do?
Pack up your little plastic bucket and spoon and leave the beach? Or are you going to stand your ground? And you're going to say there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. I want to pursue a holy walk, walk with the Lord.
His lordship and his love have become motives embedded in me, in my heart by the Holy Spirit. One of the great functions of the Old Testament is to teach New Testament truth through Old Testament illustrations. And it might be that every New Testament truth is somewhere illustrated in the Old Testament.
We're going to take one, maybe a few. This is the case with the New Testament teaching on the assurance of our salvation. This Old Testament story is going to illustrate the assurance of our salvation, that we don't walk around, who I am, who I am saved, who I hope I don't lose my salvation. You should be too busy working to be occupying your mind with such thoughts. And the devil will attack. Answer him.
Tell him, get lost. If the devil knocks on your door, ask the Lord to answer it for you. Well, anyway, between the saved souls in Noah's ark and the violent waves of judgment outside, there were two things, hewn wood and pitch.
That's it. Genesis chapter 6, verse 14, make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. That's like caulking, it's waterproofing. That Hebrew word for pitch is the identical word elsewhere translated in the Old Testament as atonement. It is kophar, it is covering. This is the cross of Christ, hewn wood and kophar, covering. Once Noah and his family were safely in the ark, we read that the Lord shut him in.
He's the principal character. They're with him. Genesis 7, 16. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in.
This is complete security. God's shutting them in once the ark was completed. He did not say, Noah, I want you to drive stakes, pins on the outside of the ark, and you and your family, when the floods come, you hold onto those stakes, and as long as you don't let go, you'll be all right.
But if you let go, you're done. That's not what God told him. God shut them in. This is what the cross of Christ does. This gives license to Paul to say there's now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. So what it meant to be in the ark is what it means to be in Christ. In Christ Jesus. There's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus who are separated from judgment by hewn wood of the cross and the atonement blood of Jesus Christ. It is a big deal.
It is illustrated. There is now no more condemnation for sin because of Christ, which is never a license to sin, and now we come to the second part. Verse 2, for the law of the Spirit is life in Christ Jesus. Let me reread that.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. You see, the unbeliever can't understand these things. They're foolishness to him, but we're supposed to get them. We're supposed to believe them.
We're supposed to act on them. Paul saw the old covenant as a rival to the new covenant because it was. Just like before the Mosaic law, that lifestyle was a rival to Mosaic law. God had to give those Jews a codified law because they were so surrounded by paganism, by false teachings.
They needed something to protect them, and it did that as a people and for the righteous. And so, Paul, through the Holy Spirit, knew that it was now the new covenant made by the death of Christ. The old covenant actually brought the death of Christ and James, the apostle, and Stephen.
Of course, Herod felt licensed to kill James because the Jews were against the Christians. They weren't into the new covenant. And the same thing with Stephen, who just completely dismantled their system, their Judaic system, in light of the new covenant. Why a new covenant? Because you can never reach the Gentile world with the old one.
It was inadequate. And God has given this new covenant, and the old must pass away. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that's the new covenant, has made us free from the law of sin and death. It has gone beyond saving us from mere Mosaic law, but any other law.
The law represents the values of the law giver. And the New Testament represents the values of God, who gave it to us. And when we share the gospel, we don't apologize for it. Hopefully, we give it with love and as much kindness as we can muster, but it is the truth. And it does not need to be walked back.
It needs to be explained and presented, yes, but not apologized for. And so we cannot live up to the Mosaic law's strict obedience. Otherwise, we would not need to be freed from it.
But we are freed from it. As the outlaw on the cross was freed by grace, not the law. He lived his whole life under the law.
He was a Jewish outlaw. But it did not save him. What saved him was the word of Christ. Today you'll be with me in paradise.
And nothing's changed. Of sin and death, a sharp contrast. Law of the Spirit of life, law of sin and death. And again, I'm going to repeat this because I fear that some of you younger Christians may miss this point as you enter into the world and you begin to use your Christianity as the tool and weapon that it is meant to be. It's not by mistake that Paul referred to the word of God as a sword.
It is a weapon against the interests of hell. The Mosaic law was inadequate when it came to reaching the world. You could not convert people to Judaism and expect them to live up to it.
It only worked in that region of the world. But when the time came, God gave the new covenant. And it is better and it is effective and it has changed the world in many ways. And so we are saved by God's kindness, not by our efforts. And the Old Testament law left the individuals with a feeling that they could do something to find favor with God beyond just believing in him. Some of them knew better. But as a rule, they did not understand the grace and kindness of God. And so I close with this from Romans chapter 2 verse 4. But before I read it, I want to again remind us all that because we're not under condemnation is in no way a green light to sin.
The Christian hates sin through and through. We know what it does. We know what it's all about.
We should. But at the same time, we're stuck in a world with a flesh that will sin. And we have got to work and perform in the midst of these things according to the Scriptures. And if Paul can do it, if Peter can do it, if Timothy can do it, if Martha and Mary can do it, then so can I. Romans 2, 4. Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. In that one verse is everything I've been saying. The strictness of God against sin, the determination of God to save the sinner nonetheless. But if the life be false, so be the security. If the life be true, grace opens up. Why would Paul even have to tell people there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus?
Because there were those telling them there is. So again, closing. Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.
We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again, or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans, here on Cross-Reference Radio.
