NO CONDEMNATION
Rom. 8:1-2
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. An elephant was drinking out of a pond one day, when he spotted a turtle asleep on a log. Without warning, he strolled over, picked it up & threw it as far as he could with his trunk.
2. "What did you do that for?" asked a passing aardvark. "Because I recognized it... It's the same turtle that took a nip out of my trunk 53 years ago." "Wow, what a memory!" exclaimed the aardvark.
3. "Yes," said the elephant. "I have Turtle recall."
B. TEXT
"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. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. 8:1-2.
C. THESIS
1. One of the greatest tools of the enemy to hinder the Saints of God is condemnation. He says to us, "Because you're not free from sin, you can't be pleasing to God and therefore you can't be effective in praying or be used in the work of God."
2. This lie causes countless millions of God's people to sit on the sidelines of the gospel work and be idle because they've been told they're not good enough to participate in the work of God.
3. This simply is not true; it's a lie from hell to falsely disqualify believers from doing their appointed tasks. This is not true, because...
I. GOD WORKS IN THE MIDST OF SIN
A. UNIVERSAL SINFULNESS
1. If God waited until people were without sin to use them, then He’d never get to use anyone, because we all are actively sinning in some proportion.
2. Don’t we do the same? We use electricity even though we don’t understand how it works. We don’t know all the inner workings of the car’s motor before we drive it. We do many things without perfect knowledge of them.
3. Everybody in the world – even the most saintly -- live in a state of sin. The Bible says “There’s none righteous, no, not one” Rom. 3:10. The apostle John said, "If we say we have no sin, we lie and the truth is not in us" (1:8, KJV). James says, "We all stumble in many ways" (3:2, NIV).
4. The wonder of wonders is that though we live in a constant state of corruption and fallen nature, God can and does work in the midst of it.
5. All through the Scripture, God used people in their weakness. It wasn't that they had the strength; all they had was faith in God. God supplied what they did not have.
B. PAUL’S REVELATION ABOUT THIS
1. The apostle Paul said that he was the least of the apostles; that he "inwardly burned" with troublesome thoughts and sinful tendencies; that he was weak and beset with difficulties and trials.
2. “Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” 2 Cor. 11:29.
3. Paul was the greatest of the early church apostles yet he also wrestled with sin. what he learned was that God is pleased to work in us in spite of our sinfulness.
4. “21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:21-25.
5. Sinful nature is like the gravity that pulls us down, but the Holy Spirit is like the force of lift/flight, that can cause us to rise above the battle of sin. “Where sin abounds, God's grace does much more abound!" Rom. 5:20.
6. God is pleased to show that his grace overwhelms sin. All we need -- for God to work in us -- is a willing heart. It’s God's job to purge the sinfulness from our lives.
7. Our story is the same as the 10 lepers; “And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed” Lk. 17:14. Jesus cleanses us as we journey toward his kingdom and if we’re not perfected by the day of the rapture, He will complete that work then.
8. So God works in the midst of sin. This idea seems to be a terrible contradiction: “How can a Holy God associate with sinful men & women?”
9. The only way God could redeem corrupt, sinful humans was to get into the pig sty with them and transform them from the inside out! Next we’re going to see how God can legally do this.
II. IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS
A. THE DIVINE SWAP
1. Another reason why imperfect humans can be used in divine service is NOT because they are righteous in themselves, but only because our righteousness is imputed, or, granted to us, accredited to us by God, due to no goodness of our own.
2. 2 Cor. 5:21 says, "For He [God] has made Him[Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
3. This verse describes the divine swap -- our sinfulness was transferred to Christ and His perfect righteousness was transferred to us who trust in Christ!
4. Paul wrote of Abraham; “And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” Rom. 4:22-24.
5. So when God looks at us He sees us as being perfectly righteous. In reality we are sinners, but in the eyes of God we are righteous.
B. OUR POSITION IN CHRIST: “SAINTS”
1. We normally think of "saints" as being someone halfway between humans and angels, but that's not true. Each letter that Paul wrote to a New Testament church he began with the words, "To the Saints at...."
2. Paul was not under the assumption that those people were perfect; many of his letters detail the numerous faults of those early believers, yet Paul called them "Saints" to remind them of what they were in Christ: “holy ones.”
3. "There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus..."
C. LEGAL RIGHTEOUS IN HEAVEN’S COURTROOM
1. Paul wrote in Romans 8:1. Paul wrote later in the same chapter, “33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” Rom. 8:33-34.
2. To conclude this point, “However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness” Rom. 4:5.
3. So we are righteous not because of any good that we do but solely because Christ's righteousness has been credited to us. Since that is so, nothing restrains us from being used in God's service!
III. TEMPTATION ISN'T SIN
A. DIFFERENCE BTW TEMPTATION & SIN
1. Another reason we feel unworthy to intercede before God or participate in the work of the gospel is that we have sinful thoughts. We all get tempted.
2. The Bible is clear that there is a difference between temptation and sin. If the devil puts a thought in our minds and we reject the thought, then no sin has taken place.
3. The Lord Jesus Himself was tempted three times in the wilderness, but though the sinful thought was in his mind, it never became sin for Him because He didn't dwell on it or carry it out.
4. Someone has said, "You can't keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair."
5. This saying points out the difference between having a thought and dwelling on that thought to the point of sin. That's why we must reject sinful thoughts as soon as were aware of they are there.
6. So just because you have a sinful thought doesn't mean you've sinned! We frequently have sinful thoughts, but that doesn't make us sinful.
B. SATAN’S BAIT & SWITCH
1. I believe the enemy frequently puts evil thoughts in our minds (temptations) and then immediately condemns us as being evil, even though the source of the evil is in him and not in us.
2. This is a false sense of condemnation. How many times have you been praying, worshipping, or sitting in church and some terrible thought comes to your mind?
3. Then you feel awful, sinful, and unworthy to pray or even be in church. Would it surprise you to know that YOU did nothing wrong? It was simply the devil’s monkey wrench to stop the fellowship you were having with God!
4. And he gets away with it all the time! We must recognize this phenomenon for what it is: a trick of Satan to derail us. What’s the answer?
C. ANSWER FOR THE WICKED THOUGHT
1. Don’t withdraw from God but give the thought to Him. Realize it’s only a trick. Rejoice that you are on the right track since Satan’s attacking you. Press into God even harder than before; cling to Him, embrace Him.
2. The devil can’t continue to assault you as you get closer to God, because he can’t stand being in the presence of God.
3. Remind him of Paul’s words: 33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” Rom. 8:33-34.
4. Praise God! You are justified! You are a saint! You are one of God’s elect! Like the prodigal son, God has put “the best robe” on you, the robe of righteousness; the gold ring of sonship, and the shoes of royalty on your feet!
5. Praise God, you have the standing to go to God’s throne in prayer, to enter His gates, and to stand in His presence without fear of condemnation. Praise God and go forth to pray & work for the Lord!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. I heard a story about a girl who was the daughter of one of the royal families of Europe. She had a big, round nose that destroyed her beauty in the eyes of others -- and especially in her own eyes. She grew up with this terrible image of herself as an ugly person.
2. So her family hired a plastic surgeon to change the contour of her nose. He did his work, and there came the moment when they took the bandages off and the girl could see what happened.
3. When the doctor removed the bandages, he saw that the operation had been a total success. All the ugly contours were gone, she would be a beautiful girl. He held a mirror up for the girl to see.
4. But, so deeply embedded was this girl’s ugly image of herself that when she saw herself in the mirror, she couldn’t see any change. She broke into tears and cried out, "Oh, I knew it wouldn’t work!"
5. The doctor labored with that girl for six months before she would finally accept the fact that she was indeed different. But the moment she accepted the fact that she really was different, her whole behavior began to change. [Tim Bond]
6. Likewise, we see ourselves as unworthy to approach God. We don't understand the mighty work of justification that Jesus has done that makes us beautiful to the eyes of God. We too must be convinced we're beautiful, holy, and acceptable. May God convince us!
B. THE CALL
1. Prayer for forgiveness.
2. Prayer for power through the Holy Spirit.
