Embracing Freedom: No Condemnation in Christ

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now come along.

Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

We're going to go ahead and continue our sermon series in the Book of Romans.

We're in Romans chapter eight here this morning.

We're going to start in verse number one, Romans chapter eight.

If you would like to turn along with me, I would encourage you to do so.

We've been studying the Book of Romans, and the title of the whole sermon series is Theology Matters.

What is theology?

Theology is the study of God, but in a more personal way, within our own relationship with Christ.

It's knowing God, knowing who he is and what he has done for us.

And so it's important to know these things because the way that we think affects what we believe and what we believe affects the way that we live, right?

So if we want God to work in our lives, if we want to have lives that reflect obedience to the Lord, if we want to have lives that impact the world around us for the cause of the gospel, we need to believe the right things.

In Romans is a wonderful book of the Bible to tell us what we are to believe about who God is and what he has done for us.

And here we come to a passage of scripture, Romans chapter 8, that I would say is one of the most powerful passages of scripture that deals with the confidence that we have in the power of God, the confidence that we have in our salvation, that God will keep us and that God will sustain us, and that God will ultimately reunite us with him in eternity.

If there's times in your life where you're tempted to doubt, if there's times in your life where you're tempted to feel guilty, if there's times in your life where you're tempted to quit, maybe even you're tempted to think that God doesn't love you, I would encourage you to go to Romans chapter 8.

I can speak by way of testimony when I'm getting into those times of difficulty in my life.

Romans chapter 8 is that centerpiece that I go back to to say, you know what?

This is my truth.

There's a lot of people in the world today that will say, well, this is my truth, or this is my truth.

And what is that truth based off of the way that they feel.

But what we really need to do as Christians is to say what is our truth?

Our truth is what God tells us is truth.

And that is his word, not how you feel, because sometimes you will feel a certain way because of the circumstances around you.

Sometimes you will feel a certain way because of what's been done to you or what.

Or how you've experienced something.

But what do we do when we are lacking truth?

The Bible says go to his word, find the truth of God.

That never changes.

Romans chapter 8 is one of those passages.

And so we're going to be here in Romans chapter eight today, and we're going to take our time going through this chapter.

Because I truly do believe that if believers could just go back to this passage of Scripture and trust God and what he says, when we will live with a lot more confidence.

We sing the song Victory in Jesus, but sometimes we're tempted to doubt that.

But when we go back to Romans chapter 8, we see that we have victory in Jesus.

And so what I'm going to do here this morning is I'm going to ask the Lord to give us clarity.

I'm going to ask the Lord to give us peace.

I'm going to ask the Lord to give us direction, and then we'll get right into the word of God here this morning.

So I encourage you to calm your hearts, and we're going to ask the Lord to give us direction here this morning.

Let's pray.

Lord, I pray that you be with us as we study your word this morning.

I pray that you help us to quiet our hearts, to open our minds, to be ready to hear your word this morning.

To be able to hear it, Lord, but also to believe it, apply it, and live in it.

Lord, I pray that we can see this morning that we have victory in you, that we have confidence in you, Lord, that we have hope in you.

Lord, I pray that if there's someone here this morning, maybe a believer that's struggling with doubt, struggling with guilt, struggling with sin, that today can be the day where the clarity can be found in the truth of your forgiveness.

Lord, I pray that if there's someone here today who does not know you as Savior, that has been trusting in something outside of faith completely in you and your work, or that today be the day of salvation, that today can be the day of hope and confidence in you.

So I ask all these things in your name.

Lord, I pray that you remove any distractions, help me to be out of the way, but help your word to be clearly seen in Jesus name.

Amen Romans, chapter 8, verse 1.

Here it is.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

There's so much there, there's so much packed into just this verse.

He says there is therefore.

Now, anytime we see the word therefore, he's referencing back to something.

And, and he's using that as the basis to what he's about to teach.

So what is he referencing to?

He's referencing the power of God, he's referencing the indwelling of the Spirit, he's referencing salvation.

So now that you understand what salvation is, now that you understand that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, now that you realize that Jesus conquered death through the resurrection, now that you believe in that and you have been changed, you have been transformed, you are now indwelled by the Spirit.

Now, this is the hope that you have.

This is the confidence.

This is the promise.

He says, there is therefore now no condemnation.

What is condemnation?

Condemnation is judgment.

Condemnation is judgment upon those who are guilty.

It's essentially saying, this is the sentence.

This is the guilty sentence.

You have committed a crime, you are going to face the condemnation.

So the way that you could think about it is this.

As a believer, there is no more judgment.

When Jesus was on the cross and he pays the price for our sin, and he says it is finished, it means it is finished.

I as a believer, you as a believer, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ, because we see here, this is not a promise for everybody in the world.

This is not a promise for the religious.

This is not a promise for anyone who just wants to be a good person.

It says, this is the promise to them which are in Christ Jesus.

Our identity is in Christ.

Our faith is in Christ.

Our salvation is in Christ.

Not in our works, not in our goodness, but in Jesus Christ.

So he says, this is a promise for those who are believers in Jesus.

There is no more judgment.

There is no more guilt.

Now, I need to be very clear this morning that there is a difference between guilt and conviction.

There are Christians who sin and we feel rightfully from the Spirit, something called conviction.

The Bible clearly teaches that a believer should not be comfortable with sin.

A believer should feel out of place when sinning.

And so that's what's called conviction.

A passage of Scripture that clearly teaches.

That is a passage in the book of John, John, chapter 16.

I want you to see this with me because every.

And he explains the role of the Holy Spirit.

And what John is explaining here is this.

Jesus is giving us a promise of the Spirit to come.

In verse 13 of John 16, he says, how be it when he, the Spirit of truth is come?

That's referencing the Holy Spirit.

He will guide you into all truth.

So one of the roles of the Spirit that we see as a believer is that he leads us to truth.

He teaches us.

Then he says more here.

He will guide you into all truth.

For he shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.

And he will show you things to come.

He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of me and shall show it unto you.

So the Bible says here that the Holy Spirit, one of his many roles, is to teach us in truth.

So what the Bible says is that if we are in sin, he will lead us to truth according to his word.

Now go back to verse number eight.

It says, and when he is come, the Holy Spirit, that is, he will reprove.

Or another word you could use there is convict the world of sin.

The Bible says the role of the Holy Spirit among many roles is to convict those who are in sin, to tell them that they are wrong.

And by the way, Scripture always aligns with the working of the Spirit.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness.

And so what does he say here?

He says this.

The Holy Spirit will come to convict.

But what does it say here?

It says in verse 8, reprove or convict the world of sin, and then of righteousness and of judgment.

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit just doesn't tell us what's wrong with our lives, but he teaches us how we can specifically get back into obedience and the will of God.

And so we go back to Romans, chapter eight, and we see this word condemnation, and we see that believers are not supposed to face condemnation anymore.

But then why do we, when we sin, feel that we need to change?

Well, that's the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

But what the enemy tries to do is the enemy tries to bring into the life of a believer condemnation, which we would equate to guilt.

And so what I want you to see here this morning is that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ this morning, when you sin, you are not supposed to feel guilt.

Why?

Because you are saved.

You have the eternal home in heaven.

Jesus has already paid the price for your sin.

And so it's a proper understanding of how to deal with sin in our life.

Because you could read this many different ways.

You could say, well, there's no More condemnation in my sins so I can just keep sinning.

Well, Paul's already addressed that back in Romans, chapter six.

Don't continue that.

God's grace just keeps abounding.

God forbid that.

So if there's no condemnation to the believer, what do we properly do when sin comes into our life?

Well, we receive the Holy Spirit's conviction and we follow his teaching to get back to a place of righteousness, to get back to a place of obedience.

If we confess our sins, 1 John, chapter 1, verse 9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That does not mean that we keep getting re saved over and over again every time we sin because we see here there's no more condemnation.

We don't have to be freed from any more guilt because God has already paid that price.

But it's that restorative process of walking in fellowship with him.

So with the Holy Spirit in our lives, there is no more condemnation.

There is only conviction.

So here this morning, if somebody sins and you've heard someone sin and they're a believer and they say, I just feel so guilty.

How could I be saved?

How could I do this?

I just feel so guilty.

That's where Satan wants you to stay.

Because in your guilt you feel no victory.

In your guilt you feel no confidence.

You feel like, I can't do anything because of this sin.

You know what?

There's this dark, dark cloud over me.

Guilt always brings.

Really, guilt brings no conviction.

Guilt brings darkness.

Guilt brings a lack of clarity.

Guilt never brings us to a place where we're restored.

So what brings us to that place?

That's conviction.

Because God always works in a place of clarity.

So what is the difference?

Well, we have something called false guilt that Satan brings to our lives.

The Bible says he's the accuser of the brethren, which means Satan wants us as believers to think that we are still guilty because we'll stay in that and we'll never be effective for him.

So there's false guilt and there's conviction.

How do we discern between the two?

Well, false guilt brings us to a place of staying where we are, staying in this place of confusion, staying in this place of doubt, staying in this place of darkness.

And we don't know how we get out of that.

Conviction always brings us to a place of Holy Spirit's guidance to truth so that we can get to a place of walking in righteousness and restorative relationship with Christ.

So if you're sitting here today and you say, you know what?

I'll give you an example of how this works in my life.

I wake up in the morning and I'm tempted to think, you know what?

I'm just not a good dad.

I'm not a good dad, not a good husband.

I'm not a good pastor.

I just can't do anything about it.

I just keep failing.

And you know what?

I just.

I'm just going to just do whatever I want to do because I'm never going to win anyway.

That's condemnation.

That's guilt.

That's not the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

What the conviction of the Holy Spirit would be if the Holy Spirit is working in my life is this.

I wake up in the morning and I remember the thing that I did yesterday to my wife that I should apologize for and restore that relationship.

The Holy Spirit always leads us to a place of restoration and righteousness.

It always brings us to a place of coming back in confession and repentance and getting restored in that area of our sin.

So I don't just say, well, I'm a bad husband, Lord, what are you speaking to me through this?

And the Bible says in Second Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 5, to take every thought into captivity.

And so if there's this thought in my mind of condemnation, well, maybe I'm not a Christian.

Maybe God doesn't love me.

We have to go back to the truth.

The Holy Spirit will always lead us to a place of growth.

The Holy Spirit will always lead us to a place of healthiness.

And so the Spirit brings confidence, the flesh.

By the way, what he's doing here is he's contrasting living in the flesh and living in the Spirit.

We looked at this last week.

A believer, though saved and though indwelled by the Spirit, can be tempted to revert back to the flesh, revert back to our old ways.

And so what is he saying here?

He's saying this.

If you walk in the Spirit, this is what you have.

You walk in the flesh, this is what you have.

Walking in the Spirit brings confidence.

Walking in the flesh brings confusion.

The Bible says God is not the author of confusion.

And so there's a time in your life maybe that you're confused with something.

And I'm not talking about being confused with a project at your house and you don't know what to do.

I'm talking about things of greater magnitude.

Confused about truth, confused about salvation, confused about the way that I should live in.

In my identity.

Right.

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion.

So the Spirit brings confidence, the flesh brings confusion.

The Spirit brings conviction, the flesh brings condemnation.

When we walk in the flesh, we will walk in condemnation because my flesh will always condemn me.

And if I'm walking in my flesh, I will always feel guilty because my.

My flesh is guilty.

But my flesh has been renewed in the Spirit, and therefore I'm not in the flesh anymore.

I'm walking in the spirit.

And that's what Paul is going to talk about here.

The spirit brings clarity.

The flesh brings uncertainty.

So the question is this morning, who or what can defeat sin?

Well, certainly it's not my flesh he's going to talk about that.

He's going to say, your flesh cannot defeat sin.

The only thing that can defeat sin is someone who fulfilled the law, someone who is more powerful than the law, someone who has conquered the flesh, and that is Jesus Christ.

Faith in Jesus Christ is the only thing that can defeat sin in our life.

The law only detects sin.

What Paul has been talking about here is the contrast between the law and the spirit, the flesh and the spirit.

And he says the law is good only to detect sin, but the law cannot defeat sin.

The only thing that can defeat sin is Jesus Christ.

Jesus defeats sin.

And when we are identified with him.

Verse 1.

To them which are in Christ Jesus, we don't defeat sin, but our identity in Christ is what defeats sin.

Who walk not meaning this, who don't live in the flesh as a believer.

You are no longer in the flesh.

You might revert back to that for a time, but the Bible says you are not in the flesh anymore.

That is not your bondage anymore.

You are not in bondage to the flesh and sin.

You are in bondage now to the Lord.

He is now your Lord.

He is your master.

So what grips you?

Is it your flesh?

That's what verse one says here.

Well, if you're a Christian, you.

You are not gripped by the flesh, even.

Even though there might be a lie in your mind that you're believing that the flesh is controlling you, the Bible says you always have victory in the Lord, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

He says me being in Christ, the law of the spirit of life that is found in Jesus Christ has made me free from the payment of sin and death has made me free from the flesh, has made me free from the condemnation that comes with the flesh.

Are we going to sin yes, but that is not what defines us anymore.

And he says, live that way.

Live in light of that hope.

And so verse number one tells us that we are free from the guilt of sin, the condemnation, the payment of sin.

But then verse number two tells us that we are free from the power of sin or the control of sin.

What an amazing thing it is to know that I am not anymore defined by my sin.

My sins of my past, my sins of today, my sins of tomorrow don't define me.

I don't have to pay for that anymore because Jesus paid the price.

So we can live in light of that freedom.

We are no longer guilty.

We no longer have a guilty sentence on our account.

The Bible says that our transgressions have been blotted out.

They've been wiped out.

Amen for that.

But then verse two, we could be someone who has been saved and walking with victory, but deceiving ourselves to go back to the old way, to be under the power or the bondage or the control of sin.

He says that should not be so.

Live as God has defined you.

Live with God's sentence and not your own sentence that you're putting on your part.

So here, here's what I would say is this.

There are some Christians who are walking around with a lot of guilt because of past sins prior to salvation or maybe even after salvation.

And that guilt of that sin has controlled you.

Well, I can never be used by God because of that sin of my past.

God knows what I did and.

And yes, he knows what you did, and he still died on the cross for your sins.

That's Romans 5:8.

But God commended or demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

It's not like God looked at us and said, well, I think that person's a good person, so I'm going to die for them.

No, he did that knowing our sin and therefore still loved us.

By the way, if we go back to verse one, this is not what we deserve.

What do we deserve?

We deserve condemnation.

And so I believe this is one of the greatest verses of describing the type of grace that we have.

God says, even though you deserve condemnation because of my son, and because of the fact that you are now in my son in identity, and you are my child, there is no more condemnation.

Grace, grace.

Verse 3.

For what the law could not do, meaning the law was limited.

The law could only detect sin.

The law could not defeat sin.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh the law always appeals to the flesh.

The law just shows us what we shouldn't do.

But the law can't defeat sin.

God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

That doesn't mean Jesus came and sinned.

It just means he came in the flesh.

The same flesh that we sin in is the flesh that Jesus came in.

But sin didn't mark him.

We read that this morning in Hebrews chapter 4.

Jesus was tempted in all points like we are.

He went through all the same temptations we go through, and probably more.

He was tempted by the enemy.

We know that he was out in the wilderness and and Satan was tempting him.

We know that Jesus was physically hurt.

We know that Jesus went through people turning their backs on him and betraying him.

But the difference between Jesus and the believer is this.

Jesus did it with three words, yet without sin.

And so we see in verse three, it's this.

The law could not save us because it appeals to the flesh.

So the only thing that can defeat sin is God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

And for our sin.

Jesus was sent for our sin.

Condemn sin in the flesh, meaning Jesus was the one who defeated sin when he came to this earth.

And because of our relationship with him, we have victory over sin.

Our life cannot be defined by sin.

Now, let me stop here.

What is sin?

Because we've been talking a lot about sin this morning, and a lot of people might have a lot of different opinions about what sin is.

Sin is literally a word that just means missing the mark.

Not missing my mark, not missing someone else's mark, but missing God's mark.

God has a standard, a standard of holiness, a standard of perfection, a standard of morality.

And all of us come to a place in our life where we must understand that we have missed the mark.

I don't care if you've missed the mark by this far or you've missed the mark by a bunch of miles.

The Bible says you've missed the mark.

Therefore you are not the one who can defeat sin in your life.

Now, why, Pastor question you might be having.

Why are you harping on this?

Because so many believers try to live our lives in the flesh and try to defeat sin in our flesh.

We try to get rid of something in our life just trying harder not to do it.

We try to remove things from our life to get sin out of our life.

Folks, you can move out to a monastery where you're not around anybody.

Well, you know what my problem is, is that I'm just Around a bunch of bad people.

I'm around a bunch of sin in this world, and that's what's making me sin.

So I'm just going to move out to the middle of nowhere and live on my own in this castle, and no one's ever going to be around.

Let me tell you something.

Even if you did that, you would still sin because you're in your flesh.

You're trying to defeat sin by something that you do, and you cannot defeat sin by something that you do.

You defeat sin by trusting in the One who has defeated sin and given you the power to conquer that sin in your life.

And so what does he say here?

He says, don't fight sin with the flesh.

Fight it in the power of Jesus Christ.

Fight it with the hope that you have no more condemnation.

You already are victorious in Jesus.

So he says, are you.

Are you acting in the flesh?

Are you acting in the spirit?

Pastor, I'm trying to do a good thing right.

Is it Isn't trying to live?

Is.

Is it like, let's say, for me as a man, isn't it good for me to try to be a better husband?

Well, yes, but I can try to do the right thing in the wrong way.

I can say the right thing, but do do it the wrong way.

I. I can try to discipline my children would be a good thing, but I can discipline my children in the wrong way.

I can come to church, which is a good thing, but I could do it in the wrong way.

I could read my Bible, which is a good thing, but it's in the wrong way.

The Bible says it's not about what you do, it's about where the heart of the matter is.

Are we supposed to do all these things for the Lord?

Yes, but we can do it in the flesh.

What does it mean to do it in the flesh?

It means to be focused on something else other than the motivation of God.

And what he says here is the motivation of the Spirit.

Verse 4.

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.

Now again, the goal is that we walk in righteousness, but not in the righteousness of our flesh.

So it says that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The goal ultimately is to walk in the Spirit, to respond in the Spirit, to serve in the Spirit, to be a better husband, a better father, a better worker in the Spirit.

And so it's not a work of man, it's a work of God.

Verse 5.

For they that are after the flesh.

So basically, those that chase after the flesh, those that live in the flesh, those that are trying to do it on their own, for they are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh.

This is the problem with being in the flesh.

This isn't the problem of trying to do it your own way.

You're only going to be focused on the things of the flesh.

So, so what does that mean?

That means this.

If I'm trying to be a better husband in the flesh, I'm going to only think about being a better husband with the things of this world, the material things.

Well, you know what?

My wife likes flowers.

So every day I'm going to bring flowers to her because I know that that's a good thing.

And it becomes robotic.

I'm just doing this so that I get my good check mark today.

Well, some of you women are like, well, I wish my husband would do that.

But that.

You understand that it might not be at the heart of the matter.

Well, I'm doing this just to pacify her, make sure she's okay.

That's a act of the flesh.

Her heart's not where it needs to be.

So we can try to do the right things within church.

We can try to do the right things in our faith.

We can try to do the right things in our marriages, in our homes, in our workplaces, in our community.

But if it's in the things of the flesh, if our motivation is the flesh, the outcome is the flesh.

It's only going to be things that are material.

Let's say.

Let's say, for example, I want the church to grow.

I think all of us would say amen to that.

Because biblically speaking, the Bible speaks of multiplication, growth.

That's an amazing thing.

But let's say I want to grow the church with my plans.

Let me.

I want to go to the church with.

With my direction, with the way that the world tells me to grow a church.

And the truth is, is that we could do that in the flesh.

We could say, hey, hey, there's all these fleshly material things that we can do to grow this church.

But the truth is, again, if we are sowing in the flesh, sewing materially, what are we going to reap?

Material blessings.

And at the end of the day, is God pleased with those material blessings?

Well, if it's void of the spiritual emphasis, if it's just about having a crowd, then we've grown this church in the flesh.

And we have fleshly rewards.

We get our rewards here.

And now I Don't know about you, but the Bible says that the rewards that we want to have from God are not in the here and now, but for eternity.

So the challenge would be this.

Not, am I doing the right things?

That's the start.

But why am I doing the right things?

Am I sowing with the flesh?

Am I working harder?

Now, some of you might say, well, am I not supposed to work hard?

Work hard in the power of God, work hard in the conviction of God, work hard in how he guides you to truth.

But we all know what it's like to be working in our flesh and just spinning our tires.

And we can do anything that we want to do.

But ultimately, if it's against the plans of God, we are away from his will in our life.

Verse 5:4.

They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the spirit.

What are we chasing after?

Chasing after the things of the flesh.

You're going to get the things of the flesh.

You're chasing after the things of the spirit.

Praise God.

You get to reap the benefits of being in the Spirit.

The blessings of the spirit, the conviction of the spirit, the comfort of the Spirit, the teaching of the Spirit.

All of these things come along with sowing into the things of this world with the things of the Spirit.

Verse 6.

For to be carnally or fleshly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

What do you want this morning?

What do I want this morning?

Well, I certainly don't want death.

So therefore, what do we do?

Well, the Bible says, well, we want the opposite of that, life and peace.

So this means to live a life guided by the spirits, a life seeking the things of the Spirit.

Now, again, I, I, I know that it can be kind of confusing if you haven't been around the church for long, or maybe you have been around the church, but you haven't had someone talk to you about what the Spirit looks like in our life.

What does it look like to be guided by the Holy Spirit?

Well, most of you know where I'm gonna go with this, but I, I gotta take you there because for a long time we've been alluding to this, but I want you to see what the book of Galatians says.

So, so go with me to Galatians, chapter five.

We're going to go to a passage of scripture that many of you have heard of before.

And it references the fruit of the Spirit.

So what does it look like to be guided by The Spirit.

We're about to see what the Bible says.

Not what some pastor said that didn't reference the Bible.

Not, not what, you know, some person at work said.

Well, you know, to be in the Spirit means you got to be doing all these miraculous things.

No, the Bible clearly teaches that this is the fruit or the blessings or the outcome of the Spirit guiding our life.

In Galatians chapter five, Paul says, here's all the works of the flesh, and he lists all these terrible things.

He, he lists things like fornication, idolatry, separations, murders, and things like it.

So basically he says all these things that we know are sinful are manifestations of the flesh in our life.

We're walking in that.

But then he gets to verse number 22 of Galatians 5.

Now, by the way, he just said in verse 16, you can either walk in the Spirit or you can walk in the flesh.

This I say, then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

So what does it look like to walk in the Spirit?

Verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit.

And by the way, fruit not fruits, because this is the group of outpouring character traits that are going to happen when we follow the Spirit.

Love, joy, peace, longsuffering.

That's patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

That's self control.

Or we could say God control.

Against such there is no law.

And so you want to test whether or not you're walking in the Spirit.

I would encourage you to go to Galatians chapter 5 and read verse 22 and 23 and say, what was my response?

Like this was my, what was, was my decision according to this was my conflict.

Because by the way, you can face conflict with the fruit of the Spirit.

You can face pain in the fruit of the Spirit.

And so the, the Bible tells us that that's a way that we can gauge it and asking God to give us direction in our life.

And so what we see here this morning, as Paul says In Romans chapter 8, are you living in the flesh?

Are you living in the Spirit?

Are you seeking the things of God?

Are you seeking the things of this world?

Are you living in condemnation?

Are you living in confidence in God?

Now, by the way, if we live our Christian lives focused on ourselves, that's what most Christians do.

All we think about is ourself.

And the gauge of whether or not God is working in this world is how God's dealing with us.

By the way, that's a faulty premise.

We are not the center of the universe.

Jesus is, God is.

But if I live my life focused on myself, there's going to be some indicators of that.

What will that look like?

Well, if I live my life focused on myself and the expectation was, is that God would give me everything that I want, that God's going to have everything planned the way that I have planned, then there's a place in my life where I'm always going to be discouraged.

Why?

Because I'm not always going to get the things that I want.

Why?

Because my life is not for me anymore.

It's for God.

You're not your own.

You're a bot with a price.

So if you think your Christian life.

If I think my Christian life is all about me, I'm always going to live in guilt and condemnation.

Why?

Because I'm always going to feel like I'm not enough.

I'm always going to feel like maybe I fail God.

I'm always going to feel that I'm inadequate.

And the truth is, is that all those things are true.

And.

But that's not the center of our salvation.

The center of our salvation is what God has done for us.

So if my focus is me, I'm always going to be failing.

I'm always going to be upset.

I'm always going to be in the dumps because it's all about me.

And when I didn't get a good news here today, or I had this struggle today, or this pain today, or someone betrayed me and I. I am.

And I am my own Lord, then the problem comes is that that's when I'm always going to be defeated.

That's always when I'm going to be questioning God because my eyes are not set on Him.

But when my eyes are set on him and he's my master and I go through a problem, hey, great.

This is just an opportunity for people to see Jesus through my life.

This is just a testimony for the Lord.

And I'm never going to be discouraged if my expectations are that.

But if my expectations are all about me, I'm always going to live in condemnation because I'm going to say, ah, you know what?

Maybe I didn't do enough today.

News flash.

You never can do enough today.

You're never going to do enough to repay God.

And when the guilt is put on you, well, you know what I've been noticing?

You haven't been, you know, acting the way a Christian should act.

So maybe God doesn't love you anymore.

That is heresy.

Heresy.

God loves you even in your failures or he wouldn't have proved his love on the cross.

Now, does God want us to stay where we are?

No, he doesn't love our sin.

He wants us to change.

Well, we're talking about two different things here.

We're talking about things that are for a believer and for not a believer.

Remember, he's speaking to Christians here.

Romans, chapter 8.

To them who are in Christ Jesus, it's obvious that a person who is not saved, a person who is not in Christ Jesus, will be walking in the flesh.

And so the challenge here is this.

Don't be like those who have no hope and walk in the flesh.

Verse number six.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

And if you are tempted to think, well, you know what?

Christians can't live in the flesh.

There are some people that teach that.

There are some people that teach if you're a Christian, you're never going to fail.

You're never going to be tempted to live in the flesh.

Go with me to a passage of Scripture in Matthew, Matthew, chapter 16.

I want you to see a fellow that I always really identify with.

His name is Peter, right?

Peter is a guy who does great things for the Lord.

But Peter is a guy who messes up a lot.

And it's okay, because why?

We we know that God has a plan for his life and it's not okay that he messes up.

But it is understandable that there are going to be people that mess up that God continues to use.

Why?

Because they're no longer in condemnation.

Matthew, chapter 16.

Some of you know this passage of Scripture.

It's a very important passage of scripture when it comes to many things.

But Jesus is talking and he asked Peter a question.

We actually asked all of his disciples a question.

He says, whom do men say that I am?

This is him in Caesarea, Philippi.

And.

And you know, Elias, Elijah, or John the Baptist or Jeremiah.

And then obviously we know the story.

If you don't know the story, I encourage you to read this sometime because this isn't the main point.

But Peter answers and says, here, this is who I say that you are.

You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus tells Peter, that's a good thing.

God has revealed that to you.

That's not flesh and blood.

You were not able to find that without the guidance of God in your life.

But then go down, because just after commending Peter for that proclamation of Jesus being Lord, verse 21, from that time for Jesus began to show his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day.

So Jesus says, okay, guys, you're ready to hear what the plan is.

That's not the plan.

They were expecting for the disciples to say that Jesus is the Christ.

The Messiah meant a victory, meant that he was going to come and remove the chains of bondage from Rome.

But now Jesus says, guys, this is what it means for me to be Messiah, That I'm going to go to Jerusalem and I'm going to die, but I'm going to be raised on the third day.

Let's see Peter's response here.

Because Jesus just gets done commending him for his proclamation of Jesus being the king, being the Messiah.

Then Peter took him.

And I believe Peter was trying to do the right thing here.

Peter was like, no, Lord, we just talked about you being victorious.

And he says he rebuked him, saying, be it far from the Lord that this shall not be unto the meaning.

Peter pulls Jesus aside and he says, jesus, you just said we're going to be victorious, and now you're going to tell me that you're going to die.

No, no, no, no, no.

This is not right.

This is not good.

I think Peter's trying to do the right thing by, like Jesus, I like, let's do what you said you're going to do.

But then let's see what the response is here.

Jesus turns, verse 23.

But he turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan.

Thou art an offense unto me.

For thou savor not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Meaning this.

Peter's eyes were fixed on the victory on the worldly side of things, the material side of things.

Jesus says, no, that's a temptation.

Why would that be a temptation?

Because it was God's will that Jesus would go.

And that's his victory in the death, the burial, and the resurrection.

Peter understood victory from a worldly sense of things.

And so what Jesus does is he tells Peter, you're not thinking the right way.

You're not thinking God's way.

You're not thinking according to God's will.

You're thinking according to man's will, your will.

And he says, thou savor or desire not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Then he says in the next verse, then Jesus said unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, if anyone wants to come after me and be a Disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Wow.

A lot of us struggle with like, well, I'm having a bad day at work.

I just don't really bear this cross.

That's not essentially what he's saying here.

To take up your cross means to take up death, to.

To die to your desires, to die to your will, to die to your way and say, lord, I'm dead to me.

I'm alive in you.

What do you want?

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.

And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

And what is it?

What does a man profit if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

What shall a man give in exchange for a soul?

So the Bible here clearly teaches that to be a follower of Christ properly means to say, it's not about my way, it's about your way.

Peter missed it at that point.

He was just like, hey, no, it's about this.

Jesus, don't do this.

And Jesus says, hey, you're thinking about the wrong things in the wrong way.

And how many Christians today are thinking about God's plan, but a completely wrong way, missing the mark?

Well, God's plan for me is to be comfortable and have everything I've ever wanted and to do the things that I want to do.

Well, I don't know what message that is, but that's not in the word of God.

Comfort is a different type of comfort.

The type of comfort that God talks about is the peace that passes all understanding that could come to a man like Paul who is in prison and said, hey, I got the comfort of the spirit.

Comfort's not a circumstantial material comfort.

Comfort is a comfort that God gives in any sense, in anywhere, in any capacity.

And so what we can see in this case is that the challenge is, is don't think about the things of God in the ways that we think as a man, as a human.

And that's what I want to challenge you with here this morning.

God.

God calls us to do certain things.

God challenges us to live a certain way.

God challenges us to love other people.

God challenges us to spread the gospel, but to do it in his path, in his way, with his word, and say, it's not about me, it's about him.

And so let's conclude this passage in Romans, chapter 8.

Why should we not live in the flesh?

What's the problem with living in the flesh?

What's the problem with doing it our way?

Verse 7.

Because the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, is enmity against God.

The flesh fights against God.

The flesh fights against the things that God wants us to do.

The flesh fights against God's economy, God's kingdom.

And so he says, to be carnally minded, to think in fleshly ways, is against God, for it is not subject to the law of God.

Neither can indeed, or, excuse me, neither indeed can be.

Meaning this.

The flesh, when we live in the flesh, is not being controlled by God.

When we live in the flesh, we are in control of ourselves or in a bad way, we're allowing evil to control us.

But when we are fleshly minded, we are doing the things of evil, doing things of rebellion.

To be spiritually minded means to do the complete opposite.

To be spiritually minded means to do the things that God wants us to do, to respond the way that God wants us to respond, to live in light of the fruit of the spirit and to respond those ways.

Because by the way, it does not say to do those things in the fruit of the spirit.

Love, joy, peace.

When things are going well, it's easy for me to be loving when everything's going my way.

But can I love when things are not going my way?

That's the question of the spirit.

Can I be peaceful when things are not going my way, when people are not being peaceful?

To me, that's a mark of the fruit of the spirit.

So one commentator put it this way.

We must, however, guard against a false spirituality and see that Paul means the flesh insofar as it is an instrument of rebellion against God.

Meaning this.

To try to be spiritual in a fleshly way means to be in rebellion against God.

Now, some of you might not understand what I mean by that, but I can tell you that I can speak void of experience.

I've tried to do the things of God in my flesh.

That's rebellion against God.

I've tried to preach the word of God in the flesh.

I've tried to respond to people for God in the flesh.

I've tried to read my Bible in the flesh.

I've tried to work in a workplace for God in the flesh.

And what does that bring?

That only brings more rebellion, more division, more anger, more confusion.

But then we get to see what he says here in verse number eight, because he takes it a step further.

This is where we're going to end here this morning.

So then they that are in the flesh cannot, cannot please God.

Whoa.

Because we.

We think, well, like, if I'm trying to do the right thing, but my way I'll eventually please God.

No, he says, if you are in the flesh, if you're not guided by the spirit, if your mind is not controlled by the spirit, if your actions are not controlled by the spirit, this is not Pastor Josh's humble opinion.

This is the word of God.

So then they that are in the flesh, walking in the flesh, cannot please God.

Cannot please God.

There's another passage of Scripture in Hebrews, chapter 11 that speaks to a hindrance to our walk with God.

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6 says, for without faith it is impossible to please him.

So we have to see some kind of connection between living in the spirit and living in faith.

If we are not living in faith that God can control our life and take care of us and provide for us and preserve us and sustain us through the midst of our difficulty, we will then be tempted to revert back to something that we do trust in.

Many of us, trust our flesh to do that work.

I got a struggle today.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we lack faith that God can handle it, and we believe that we can handle it.

So we go to the flesh.

Can't please God that way.

We can't please God that way.

So faith, believing that God is who he says he is, that he will do what he says he will do, that God has proven his love for us when we live in that type of faith, when we.

We will be led by the Spirit.

So it essentially boils down to this.

Am I going to live with faith today?

Am I going to trust that God is going to keep his word?

It's hard to believe that God will keep his word if you don't know what his word is.

That's why you got to dig deep into the promises of God.

Because if you didn't know Romans chapter 8, you might be tempted to think that you have condemnation now.

May maybe you have sinned too much and God doesn't love you anymore.

But go back to verse one.

There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who are now living in the Spirit and not the flesh.

The flesh battles against God because it does not want to be crucified.

What did Jesus say?

Take up your cross.

There's another passage of Scripture that says to mortify or to kill your members, your body.

The idea would be this flesh never wants to surrender to the Lord's way.

It doesn't want to live out.

Galatians, chapter 5, verse 24.

I want you to see Galatians, chapter 5, Verse 24.

We were in Galatians chapter 5.

I want you to see this right after the reference to the fruit of the Spirit.

Here it is.

So this is what it looks like for a believer to be walking in the Spirit with no condemnation, with no more guilt.

Galatians 5.

24.

And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The Bible says that if you're a believer, you have the Spirit living within you.

But many times we don't walk in the Spirit.

So what does that look like?

To crucify your desires, to kill your desires, to remove those desires and say, lord, I want that to die.

How do we do that?

Well, there's a song.

It says, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

Meaning this.

It's not just about hating bad as much as it is loving God more.

And the more I love God, the more I love good, the more I want to serve him, the less I will want to do those things in this world, the less I will want to feed my flesh.

Folks, fighting the flesh with the flesh is just this.

I just don't want to.

I got to stop doing this.

I got to stop doing this.

But I keep living in it.

If I'm living around it, that's where I'm going to be.

If I'm going to fight the flesh with the flesh, I'm going to eventually be back right into the sin that I want to be free from.

But when I say instead of just looking at the bad and trying to avoid the bad and just looking at it more and more, look to Christ and the things of the world, the things of our flesh will grow more and more detestable when we love him more, when we identify with him more, when we realize that these are the types of sin that nailed him to the cross, that's when we say, you know what?

I don't want to serve that anymore.

That's disgusting.

Folks, if there's a Christian who desires sin all the time, there's a problem with the heart, there's a problem with the mind.

Sin should look repulsive to the believer.

We should not look at the world and go, well, I wish I could do that.

I'm just.

I'm just gonna preach it here, okay?

I love you.

And.

And I love the Lord, so I gotta.

I love the Lord more, so I gotta preach this.

If we have a Christian who's like, man, I just wish I could be out doing those things like I used to.

I just wish I could go out and desire those things like I used to.

It's so hard.

You know what?

I got to go to church and I got to do these things.

But man, if I could just get back to that old way of life, I would love that.

Folks, that's a huge problem because God changes our desires.

I'm not saying there's not temptations.

I'm not saying sin isn't attractive.

I'm saying those things are attractive.

That's why it's a temptation.

But if our desires of all we think about, it's all we, it's what we dwell on.

We're dwelling on the wrong things.

I'm not saying you're not a Christian.

What I'm saying is, is that your mind is carnally focused.

My mind is carnally focused.

If all I can think about is the things of this world and it's so attractive that I can't do it anymore.

It's just such a disgrace.

I wish I could do that.

No, that's a change.

And we've got to get to a place in our life where our desires are the things of God.

I used to think this, man, we have a youth group event on Friday night.

I could be out with my other friends and have a lot more fun.

I got to go to church.

Christians can't have fun.

I used to think that confession time.

Christians can't have fun because we can, you know, we can't do all the things that are fun in this world.

Then I really got a hold of my life and I realized the best, most enjoyable thing is to walk around with other Christians and have pure righteous fun and elevate the truth of Jesus Christ.

I don't want those things of the world anymore.

What, what can that bring me?

Destruction.

Remember, he says death.

But the things of God in the Spirit are so, so if you're tempted to think, well, I can't be.

I can't have a good time as a Christian.

Some of the, the best time of my life has been when I'm serving God and I'm along other Christians, that's it.

That's what's the beauty of it.

And so it's always deeper.

It's not about a list of rules.

Well, now that I'm a church member, I can't go to this place now.

Now that I'm a church member, I, I, I can't do this thing anymore.

I can't say this anymore?

No, but it's.

It's deeper than that.

It's a motivation.

But when we do fail, when we do struggle, when we do revert back, remember verse number one.

There is therefore now no condemnation.

There's forgiveness in Jesus.

His forgiveness is bigger than any sin that we commit.

It's not an excuse, but it's an encouragement to know that we can find grace in Him.

So the battle to tame the flesh, the law is powerless.

My flesh is powerless.

The only thing that can tame the flesh and give us power is being led by the Spirit of God and resting in his truth.

No condemnation, only confidence.

That's where chapter eight starts.

Now he's going to talk more about in verse number nine, what it means to be indwelled by the Spirit.

He's going to talk in verse number 12 about being led by the Spirit.

And then we're going to get to the classic passage where we can anticipate God's glory and know that we are more than conquerors as being children of God.

So here this morning, I hope that it can be clear, as Colossians chapter three says, to set our affections on the things above.

Set your hearts and your desires on the things that honor God, that please God, not please yourself.

If you come to church saying this, you know what.

What's Pastor gonna do for me today?

I'm gonna do nothing for you.

Honestly.

You don't want me to give you anything?

Okay, you.

What?

What does God have for me today?

What, What.

What can I do to serve him, to love him, to serve others, and to point others to people of Jesus Christ?

I could go so much further, but the idea would be this.

If you're serving at a church to please a person, that's a fleshly reason.

If you're serving at a church for people to please you, to serve you, that's a fleshly reason.

If you're serving at church for any other reason outside of giving honor and glory to our Savior and loving him and responding to him in obedience, then it's the wrong motivation.

If you're fighting sin just so that you don't go to jail, if you're fighting sin just so that you don't get in trouble anymore or that someone gets off your back, you're fighting sin for the wrong reasons.

Fight sin because God has called us to die to that, to be more like Him.

So I can't put it any more clear here this morning.

Do everything by the power of the Spirit and die to the flesh.

Stop trying to start trusting Start trusting that God can change your heart.

It's not going to be overnight for some people.

For some people it is, but for other people, it's a process.

Die daily.

Ask God to give you that strength the moment you wake up.

Ask God to give you that victory today.

Pastor, the moment I wake up, I start thinking about that problem in my day.

So get ahead of it and start praying as soon as you wake up, give it over to him.

So here this morning, there's no more condemnation.

There's only victory in Jesus Christ.

Understand the difference between false guilt and conviction.

One of the greatest spiritual truths that I was able to learn in my life, to be able to deal with false guilt and conviction.

It was amazing thing to see that, because once I can identify that this is false guilt from the enemy, I can reject that, cast that out.

When I realize this conviction, I can deal with it and get it right with God.

That's.

That's a beautiful thing.

Some of you might be living under that cloud of guilt right now or that cloud of confusion.

Come this morning and realize there's no more condemnation if God is convicting your heart on a specific matter.

Because by the way, the Holy Spirit is always specific.

The Holy Spirit is always directive.

The Holy Spirit's always going to lead us the truth.

If God is working on your heart, on a specific sin that you're committing now or you've committed in the past, that you need to get right, get that right asap.

Because living in rejection to the conviction of the Spirit will allow us to grieve.

The Holy Spirit will eventually get us to a place where we have a seared conscience and eventually get us to a place where we're not walking in the way that God would have us to walk, and we lose our effectiveness for Christ.

Come forward this morning and get that right with him.

I'm gonna ask if anyone is everyone is able to stand.

If you're able to stand.

If you're not able to stand, don't stand.

But I'm gonna ask every head bowed, every eye closed as the music plays this morning, I want you to respond to the preaching of the Word.

Maybe for you, you've been living in that condemnation and that guilt.

Realize that if you were a believer in Jesus Christ this morning, there is no more guilt.

There is only victory.

Get that taken care of today.

Walk as a victorious believer in the Spirit.

But if maybe some of you have been dealing with sin, this is not just condemnation.

I feel like this sin is in my life and I don't know what to do.

Does God even love me anymore?

He loves you.

But get that restoration.

Get that restoration through repentance.

This morning, call out to him.

Ask him to give you the wisdom and the strength to overcome that sin in your life and get it right.

Get it right with him.

And maybe it means getting it right with somebody else, I don't know.

But get it right today.

But if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, I. I gotta tell you, that promise that's given to us there in Romans chapter eight is not for people who are not in Christ Jesus.

The only way to be in Christ Jesus is to call upon his name in faith and believe in him and him alone and his work and his resurrection for your salvation.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you are entrusting in anything, anything outside of Jesus and His work alone for your salvation, today is the day for salvation.

Come forward and believe in faith.

And so I'm going to pray here in a few moments.

At the end of my prayer or even before that, you can come forward.

You can kneel here at the steps.

We got some people that can show you in the word of God what it means to find the truth of the Gospel.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives.

Lord, help folks to follow you through conviction, through comfort, through confidence, through clarity.

Pray that you be in this time of invitation.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Some have already come.

Follow as the Lord leads here this morning.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing blessing for you.

You would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.

Thank you so much.

God bless.

Have a wonderful day.