OUR FREEDOM IN CHRIST JESUS: ROM. 8:1-4 9/1/7
Today we’re going to be talking and thinking about the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.
Listen as I read today’s text found in Romans 8:1-4
1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
As children of God, a lot of us don’t really understand just what being set free from our sin debt really means.
Some folks seem to think, “well since I was such an ungodly sinner and this and that, surely God is always going to keep all that in mind.”
Ps. 103: 12As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
The believer is not doomed and damned, but is freed from the penalty and condemnation of sin; he is not judged as a sinner, but is delivered from the condemnation of death. he is not judged to be unrighteous, but is counted to be righteous.
–Listen as I read vs. 2 again
2For the law of the Spirit* of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin* and death. *
Listen as I give you this little illustration of Vernon Mc gees:
~~ Suppose a housewife puts a roast in the oven right after breakfast because she is going to serve it for the noon meal. The telephone rings and it’s the community gossiper.
And the caller begins by saying; “Have you heard?” Well, the housewife hasn’t heard, but she would like to; so she pulls up a chair, and after a long while she’s reminded of her roast as she smell it burning.
Finally the housewife tells the long winded caller that see has to hang up she smells something burning.
She hangs up the phone, rushes to the kitchen, and opens the oven. **Then she gets a fork and puts it down in the roast to lift it up, but it won’t hold. She can’t lift it out. She tries again, closer to the bone, but still it won’t hold. So she gets a spatula. She puts the spatula under the roast and lifts it out. ~~
Notice, what the fork could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, the spatula is able to do.
There is nothing wrong with the fork—it was a good fork. But it couldn’t hold the
flesh because something was wrong with the flesh—it was overcooked. The spatula does what the fork could not do.
The Law is like the fork in that it was weak through the flesh. It just won’t lift us up; it can’t lift us up. But a new principle is introduced here in vs. 2 : the Holy Spirit. What the Law could not do, the Holy Spirit is able to do.
2For the law of the Spirit* of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
It was impossible for the Law to produce righteousness in man. This is not the Laws fault. The fault lay in man and the sin in his flesh. The Law was totally incapable of producing any good thing in man.
Paul said in Rom. 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing. All Mankind is totally depraved. That doesn’t mean our neighbor across the street or down in the next block from us, and it doesn’t mean only some person who is living in sin; it means you and it means me.
The Holy Spirit is now able to do the impossible. The Holy Spirit can produce a holy life in the weak and sinful flesh.
No child of God can be happy in living for the things of the flesh. The prodigal son may get into the pigpen, but he will never be content to stay there. He is bound to say, “I will arise and go to my father.”
The person who is IN CHRIST is safe and secure from condemnation now and forever. He will not be judged as a sinner; he will not face condemnation, and he will never be condemned for sin; he shall never be separated from the love of God which is IN CHRIST.
To be in Christ means that a believer walks and lives in Christ day-by-day. A true believer lives and moves and has his being in Christ.
He is in union with the Lord Jesus and he lays his life, his past sins upon Jesus. He entrusts his eternal destiny in Jesus---in faith he places all that he is, and all that he has into the hands of Christ
To be IN CHRIST means that a person’s faith in Jesus Christ places him in Christ. Positionally, the saved person is placed in all that Christ is. Christ lived and died and arose, so to be in Christ means that a person lives, and dies, and arises in Christ.
Listen dear hearts God don’t put the handcuffs of past memories on us.
Many times we do that to ourselves and also the people that remember how we once lived will remember but not God.
And lets be mindful that the damming sin, the sin that sends people to hell is rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
John the Baptist said in John 1: 29 –behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the
s-i-n** of the world.
When we 1st receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and ask God to forgive us of all our sins He does exactly that, now that we have been born again, we have a new beginning, a newborn babe in Christ, a new babe in Christ is many times ignorant to the things of God, therefore he starts out crawling, he has a lot to learn before he can walk.
We will never have to ask Him to save us again. Jesus; While talking to Nicodimus in John 3: said this Jn. 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
All of us realize that it would be impossible for us to be born again of the flesh by our mother; well it’s the same truth to do with being born over and over of The Holy Spirit, its not going to happen again.
Therefore, because we that have been born again, we are saved from the damming sin of rejecting Jesus, but we’re still in these corruptible bodies, and since we still have this Adamic nature, saved people are still going to sin.
But let me say, that just because we’re saved don’t give us a licenses to sin.
Paul said in Rom.6: 15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
We that are saved are still sinners saved by grace, you have heard me say many times, that as long as we still have to eat food for nourishment, as long as we have to wear glassy and hearing aids, as long as we have to sleep and rest these bodies, let that be a reminder to us that we have not yet received our glorified bodies,
Paul said in Philippians 3: 20For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
1st Cor. 15: 51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep,**but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall ----sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,** and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54So when** this corruptible shall have put** on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be **brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
So until the rapture takes place every child of God will remain in a vile body that is capable of doing any ungodly deed that any lost sinner can do.
We certainly don’t plan on it, but its possible.
Listen brothers and sisters lets not look down our long nose of criticism on another brother or sister that’s fallen into some sort of sin, you may be next.
1st cor. 13: 12Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
We’re save from the penalty of the damming S-I-N but not from S-I-N-S-, that’s obvious because we see sins on every hand.
One day when the rapture does take place, that’s when we’ll receive a glorified body that will be like as the Lord Jesus Body and at that time we’ll be saved from the very presents of sin and we’ll never sin again.
1st john 3: 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. So once a person is saved he’ll die saved according to Gods word. We may lose the rewards we could have had by willingly sinning after we’re saved, and not asking Gods forgiveness of our sin, but He’ll not disown one of His children.
2nd John vs. 8Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.**
If we could be lost again once we’re saved, there would be no need for much of Hebrews 12: where we’re told that God chastens every son Whom He receiveth.
And the only reason God chastens His child is because His child has sinned and continues on sinning.
Why would God Chasten a lost person? If we were lost again He would not chasten the devils children.
Hebrews 12: 5And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for -what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
John tells us that there is a sin unto death. 1st Jn. 5: ---16 --there is a sin unto death ---
“Death” here refers to physical death. It has no reference at all to spiritual death because the child of God has eternal life. John is saying that believers can commit a sin for which their heavenly Father will call them home; that is, He will remove them from this life physically, perhaps because they are disgracing Him.
He would never have taken them home if they had not been His children. The Lord doesn’t whip the Devil’s children—He whips only His own. When His children sin unto death, He will take them home.
We’ve all heard the saying, “once saved always saved” that’s exactly what the Bible says; it’s a fact and we should be happy about it.
Christian, if you want to go home early, just bring reproach upon your Heavenly Father and it may very well happen, and possibly lose the reward you could have had.
Once again our text verse says, Rom.8: 1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
And then there’s Christians that are all bound up in legalism.
And they don’t understand that they’re now in Christ Jesus,
They read the Bible to learn of its rules. The legalist with a sensitive conscience knows he cannot keep God’s laws perfectly.
The Psalmist was talking about the Old Testament law when he said, Ps. 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul:
Its true there was no need for a new law code, but there was a need for freedom from the consequences of disobeying Gods law. **
It’s no wonder that the legalists either live in a state of perpetual discouragement or self-righteous hypocrisy. The legalist does not understand what Acts 13:39 means, And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
There’s a many a Christian that has created for them selves a personal prison of do’s & don’ts.
It seem that they don’t realize that Rom.8: 1says There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
Paul says this in Gal. 5:1 1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage
