On Truth for Life, we are beginning a series today called Life in the Spirit. This is a study in Romans chapter 8. Alastair Begg looks to the Apostle Paul's teaching to help us understand what it means to be a Christian. And today we'll focus on why believers are free from condemnation even though we still sin. Our gracious God, we humbly pray.
That the Spirit of God will help us to use our minds to think sensibly and properly. That you will take my words and help me to speak clearly and succinctly. And that you will take our hearts. Our lives and conform them. to the truth of your word.
that you will make us like Christ. For it's in his name we pray. Amen.
Some homes have a lot of scriptural quotes on their walls, and that may be your home. It isn't our home. In fact, I'm not sure that we have anything other than just this one quote, and now we don't even have that because it's here. But I walk past this every day because it is in the back hallway from the exit from the garage and in through the laundry room and into the kitchen. And I walk past this in the every time I I go through the hall.
It's actually the answer to the first question in the Heidelberg Catechism. And I don't know how many of you have this in your home, but I commend it to you. It's very worthwhile. And this is both the question and the answer. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
Answer? that I am not my own, but belong body and soul In life and in death, To my faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood. and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head.
without the will of my heavenly father. In fact, All things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ by His Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready From now on. To live for him.
So now you know the answer to the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism. In one sense, it is a wonderful explication Of the opening phrase of Romans chapter 8 and verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation. for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no question that Romans chapter 8, which is going to be the focus of our studies for a few weeks now, there is no question that this is one of the high peaks of all of the Bible.
It is true that all of the Bible is equally inspired. But it is also true that not all of the Bible is equally inspiring. For example, it would not be just as easy a task for us to embark on a sustained study of 1 Chronicles chapter 3. If you doubt that, you may just want to turn to it for a moment and reinforce the thought. It is equally inspired, but it is not equally inspiring.
What we're really going to consider over these next few studies Essentially, life in the spirit. What it means to be a Christian, the heading in ANIV, if you have one, is life through the Spirit. But what does it mean to be in Christ? What does it mean to live in the fullness of the Spirit? What does it mean to have the dynamic of the power of God in the life of a believer?
And how does that relate to the things that we have just read in the second half of chapter 7? How do we put all of this together? How are we to understand it? It is a matter of concern to all who are thoughtful professing Christians. It's always dangerous to be making sweeping generalizations, but in one sense, Romans chapter 8 really clarifies for us the totality of the biblical record.
And making sure that we who profess to be followers of Jesus may be guarded by this truth and may be able to articulate this truth. And we do so in a context where there is a lot of confusion concerning what this really means. And uh This of course is not new to the 21st century. I think I've told you before that when James S. Stewart, the Scottish Presbyterian, addressed the students and faculty of Yale Divinity School fifty eight years ago in 1952, he warned them on that occasion And whether they heeded his warning or not is a matter of conjecture, isn't it?
He warned them about, quotes, a theologically vague. and harmlessly accommodating Christianity which he said is less than useless. We're not free to design a gospel. accommodate A confused church. and a compromise culture.
Augustine said, if you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don't like. It's not the gospel, you believe. But yourself. As if somehow or another you can just take your Bible and take scissors and just cut out the parts that you don't like. And finally, have a nice little gospel that fits your own predilections and so on.
It's not possible to do. At least, not without great harm to ourselves and without despite to what the scriptures teach. No, we're going to give ourselves to this glorious chapter which begins with no condemnation from the wrath of God. and which ends with no separation from the love of God. And I commend it to you.
You may even want to attempt to memorize it in the coming weeks. It will do you good. Therefore There is now no condemnation.
Well Therefore, As our English teacher told us, when you see a therefore, you should ask what it's there for. And he is making this great declaration in light. of all that he has already said. The question of whether this therefore should be tied immediately to the end of chapter seven, whether it should be tied to that which begins in Romans chapter three and so on, is really quite a moot point. I would paraphrase it like this.
Therefore, In light of what I've just said, And in light of all that I've said. Therefore, in light of what I've just said, and in light of all that I have said. You need to know this. What do we need to know? That there is no condemnation, that there is no condemnation.
So he has no sooner, as it were, pushed his boat out from the jetty and he's out into the deep seas. He's down now immediately into the depths of the grace of God. And I purposefully read the balance of Romans 7.
so that we might be clear in our minds here. That there is no contradiction. Between what he says in verse 24 of Romans 7 and what he now writes in verse one of chapter eight. What does he say in verse 24? What a wretched man I am.
Who will rescue me from this body of death? What does he say in verse 1? There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Christ Jesus.
Now, you will read in certain places and you will hear certain people teach that what Paul is referencing there is his pre-converted condition. That he is only able to say that because only an unconverted person would say, Oh, what a wretched man that I am. Really? Have you heard many unconverted people going around explaining to everybody that they're really a miserable wretch? No, most people are going around saying I'm really quite a good fellow.
I mean, there are some bad people. A few of them work in my office, and a number of them live in my street, but not me. I am really quite quite an excellent girl, nice chap. No, in actual fact, it's only when we know Romans 8, 1 that we really are able to understand Romans 7, 24. It's not so much that we get from Romans 7 into Romans 8 as it is that we get from Romans 8 and reverse back into Romans 7.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. How amazing is that, given what a wretched man I am. Given what I know about myself. Given what God knows about me and what I know about me. Given that the good I want to do, I don't do, and the bad I don't want to do, I end up doing.
What possibility is there for me? What hope is there for me? After coming out of this. You see what Paul is doing? Therefore, he says, what you need to know Is in light of all of that.
There is no constant. Condemnation.
Now we all wrestle with this paradox. We all wrestle with it. Because we're aware of the accusations of our conscience, we're aware of the insinuations of the evil one. And we recognize the paradox that is contained in this. And again, you can backtrack through it and read it for yourself.
And some have said, well, that's because the law itself is a problem. And really, what Paul is saying is we've got to get rid of the law. And if we get rid of the law of God, then we can live in the Spirit of God and so on. That is such a facile way to approach the Bible, and I'll show that as our studies continue. Verse 12 of chapter 7 makes it clear that the law is not the problem.
Look at what he says. The law is holy. And the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
So if the law is not the problem, what is the problem? The answer is sin is the problem. And in verse 11, He tells us that sin seduces me. Seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, sin deceived me. Sin always deceives us.
Sin is the great deception. It deceives us into thinking that that which it seduces us to will satisfy us. That's the first lie that it tells. This will answer all your longings. This will fulfill all your dreams.
This will satisfy you. That's what it says. We get to the end of that and we find that it doesn't satisfy. It also is deceitful, and it tells us that, and even if you go down this road, you'll be able to justify the fact of what you're doing. And we get down the road and we realize that we can justify what we're doing.
And we get further down the road, and it tells us, and you'll be able to escape the consequences of what you do. And we get down at the end of the road and we run slam into the consequences of what we do.
Now the problem is not the law of God. The problem is sin. And sin that is dealt with in Jesus. And therefore, having been dealt with in Jesus, There is now No condemnation. I was greatly helped as I wrestled with this as a younger man when I read Jim Packer on this, and it's an analogy I've alluded to before, but I want to quote it for you exactly.
And that is When when Packer describes the balance or the paradox between what the law tells us about ourselves And we read that in Romans chapter 7: that I am weak. that I am failing. and that I am guilty. And what the gospel affirms concerning us, namely, that I am loved. that I am safe.
and I am secure. Weak Failing. Guilty? Loved Safe. Secure.
But how does this work? How can this no condemnation be a reality? And when is it a reality? Is this something that we aspire to, we eventually reach? No, you will notice the time frame.
There is therefore now, three-letter word, important in Scrabble, now, N-O-W. He's not referring to a future possibility, he's not referring to a past reality, although it is based on a past reality, but he is referring to a present certainty. It can't be other than this, as we're going to see in our studies. And you may be helped by turning back one page in your Bible to one of the other great therefores of Romans. Therefore In chapter five and verse one.
You could say that there are three great, there are four as in the book of Romans. There is Romans 5:1. There is uh Romans 8, one and there is Romans twelve one. But look at 5.1. Therefore.
Since we have been justified Through faith. We have peace with God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. We stand in Grace. We stand in grace.
Otherwise, what do we stand in? If we don't stand in grace, we stand in grace. Condemnation.
If we are not justified If we are not declared Righteous. on the strength of Christ. We are condemned. There's no safe territory between this. We're not born into some moral Middle ground.
whereby we choose either to live in condemnation or we choose to live in justification. But what the Bible says is that we find ourselves in the condemned cell from the get-go. That as in Adam all die. That Adam has brought down the human race in the solidarity of our being caught up, as it were, in him. And therefore, that's where we are.
So the reality of condemnation is not in question. But the present experience of the believer. is because of what has happened in Jesus. And if you want to rehearse this at home, you can just go through and notice the tenses, and it's so very, very clear. You know that my favorite character increasingly in the New Testament is the thief on the cross, the one who says, Lord, will you remember me?
Or, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. In other words, You know, somewhere along the line, when you get it all fixed and finished, will you take care of me? And the response of Jesus is so wonderful, isn't it? He says, I'll do better than that. Today Today The reality of what has happened In the life of the sinner who turns in repentance and faith to Jesus is a present reality.
That when we are born again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the hope is a secured certainty that we have not yet entered into. It's not a possibility like we hope it doesn't rain before seven o'clock. It may or it may not, but it is a sure and certain hope. Why? Because of this divine transaction, because of what Paul is saying here.
And that's why Augustus Toplady, in his wonderful hymn, A Debtor to Mercy Alone, reminds us that the glorified spirits who are already in heaven. may be happier than us. But they aren't any more secure than us. They're no more secure. Because their position is our position No There is therefore now no condemnation.
For whom? Notice? for those who are in Christ Jesus, for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is Paul's favorite expression. He uses it 160 times in his letters.
Either this or a variation of it. In Christ, in the beloved, and so on.
Sometimes he turns it round and speaks in terms of Christ in us or us in Christ. Classically we think of it, those of us who know our Bibles, in terms of 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come. That's why, when he writes his letters, he writes to the church of God in Christ and in Ephesus, to the believers in Corinth and in Christ.
And that is exactly what it is for us this morning. As we've said so many times before, we are in Christ, but we are also in Cleveland. One day, for us to be in Christ, we will be gone from Cleveland. And I don't mean moving to Florida or wherever it is you're planning to go, but we will be gathered into the presence of Jesus. where we will be free from the possibilities of sin.
But today living in Cleveland, I am constantly bombarded by the ravages of sin. The law, which is pure and perfect and holy, challenges me to break it. The law in its perfection shows me that I'm out of line. The law continues to condemn me. And if I don't understand what it is to be in Christ, Then, what I will seek to do every time I am condemned by the law is try and beat it at its own game.
So I'm losing 3-0, but I can I've still got the second half to try and get it fixed before the final whistle blows. If that's the way you're approaching your professed Christian life, I'm sorry, sister. Brother, you don't understand grace. But when you do understand this. What a transformation.
Because when the evil one comes with all of his accusations, when our conscience accuses us, when we real ourselves to be weak and failing and useless. We don't say, well at least I've got a second half to try and fix it. We say, isn't it an amazing wonder? That a messed up creature like me Because of Christ? faces no condemnation from his wrath.
And no separation from his love. You know, when I tell this to Catholic people, and I don't want to be unkind to any Catholic people who say this, but most of my Catholic friends say that can't possibly be the case. They said, if if I'm going to believe that, then I'll just go and do what I want to do. And I say, no, don't say that. Let's just continue our studies in Romans 8 a little further, and it'll work itself out for you.
But it just, the gospel, you see, is dangerous, isn't it? Because when you really understand the gospel, you understand the doctrine of justification, you find yourself saying, well, this is too good to be true. I mean, what is this? That's how you should feel. But remember It is those who are in Christ Jesus.
We are by nature excluded. From Christ. The Ephesians Heard this amazing story that Paul came to proclaim. He who had been so convinced of his own righteousness, he who was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he who was trying to work his own way to heaven eventually had been arrested by Jesus and his life had been turned upside down. And now he couldn't get over this and he came proclaiming this amazing news, which he got a hammering from the Jews and he got ridiculed by the Gentiles, but he never gave up.
Because it was too important. Have you been included in Christ? Do you know who you are? Every so often we read a sad story, don't we? Or we hear it covered on the news of somebody who wanders into a police station.
And they're clueless as to their identity, or into the emergency room of a hospital. And when the people seek to interview them, say, who are you? Say, I don't know. And where did you come from? I said, I don't know that either.
And where do you live? He said, I don't know. It's tremendously sad. But equally sad, is the form of spiritual dementia. which suggests and equally clear.
absence of understanding. of who I am. And what you need to know, Park Safe member. is who you are. You need to know who you are.
Because it is your identity. which forms the dynamic of your activity. And if we don't understand our identity, then every call for action will appear simply to be another form of externalism. Another attempt to try and fix it. Another attempt to try and improve my score.
Another attempt in the second set of the tennis match to get back into favorable territory. But when I understand That in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no condemnation.
Now Now, wow, what a change. What a change. Do you know who you are? You're listening to Truth for Life. That is Alistair Begg with a message titled in Christ Jesus.
As our current series unfolds, we're going to learn how each person of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit How each person is involved in every believer's salvation in every including our ongoing sanctification. And the book we are offering today is an excellent supplement to this series because it provides clarity on how we can cultivate a unique and meaningful relationship with each person of the Trinity. The book is called Distinct Communion, The Believer's Relations with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The book will help you better understand the Godhead, help you be more specific in both your private prayer life and corporate worship.
and it will teach you why all of this matters. Even long time believers often struggle with this, so the book draws from the works of the Puritans to provide wonderfully helpful guidance. It even gives examples of prayers that you can work into your own prayer life. Ask for your copy of Distinct Communion: The Believer's Relations with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When you donate today, you can give a one-time gift at truthforlife.org/slash donate, or you can arrange to set up an automatic monthly donation when you visit truthforlife.org slash truth partner.
Or you can call us at 888-588-7884. We are glad you joined us to study the Bible today. How is it possible that Christians are free from the law? and yet at the same time obligated to uphold the law? Join us tomorrow.
as we think through this together. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
