No Condemnation
By
Shelby G. Floyd
Romans 8:1
“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.”
NKJV
“No condemnation,” is the topic under consideration. Everyone has an inborn desire for approval. Preachers love to have the approval of their brothers and sisters in Christ, song leaders love to have the support and approval of the members of the church, politicians love to have the support and approval of their constituents, and even children like to have the approval of their peers and to be included in sports and social activities. We all like to have the support and approval of other people.
Seek God’s Approval
Now if this is
true from a human standpoint how much more is it true from the divine
standpoint? We should seek God’s approval and his support and commendations
above everything else. The apostle Paul said, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of
Christ.” (Galatians 1:10). So
we should seek to please God and get his approval above the approval of men,
though we desire that also. Did you know
that God wants to give his approval to us?
When Peter spoke to the household of Cornelius, we read, “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no
partiality. But in every nation whoever
fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts
And our text for today is from one of the great chapters in
the book of Romans. The lesson for today will examine very closely Romans
8:1-8. This chapter begins with “no
condemnation,” centers in “no defeat,” and concludes with “no separation.” Our
lesson focuses upon “no condemnation.”
The Bible declares in Romans 8:1, “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.”
THE PROMISE
The
first thing that we want to look at is, “the promise.” The promises of God are
wonderful. He always keeps his
promise. He cannot tell a lie and what
he says he will do, he does carry out. The promise here is, “no
condemnation.” That is a wonderful
promise, but when I read my Bible, it declares that all people who are
accountable for their behavior are guilty of sin. Therefore all people who are accountable are
condemned. For instance, in Romans 3:9-10 the apostle Paul declares, “…For we have
previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is
written: “There is none righteous, no,
not one.” So
out of all the people who have ever lived, there is not even one that can say
“I am righteous.” In Romans
Many Will Be Condemned
So there we have
the promise. The promise is no
condemnation. But you know how on the
day of judgment the majority of the people are going to be condemned according
to what I read in my Bible. At the
conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is
the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Those Who Do Not Obey the Great Commission
Will Be Condemned
And in the great
commission Jesus declared to his apostles, “Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He who
believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be
condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16). Therefore,
those who do not receive and believe and obey the great commission will be
condemned at the last day. And then
Jesus declared, “Do not marvel at this,
for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come
out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have
done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29). Therefore
there will be a resurrection of those who are not condemned and those who are
condemned.
From this survey of the Scriptures we draw the conclusion
that sin condemns. But we also note that
there is a class of people who will have no condemnation. It is to that class of people that Paul says,
“There is therefore now no condemnation…”
(Romans 8:1).
THE STATE
That
brings us to the second part of our lesson.
For this class of people who are in a certain state or location there is
now no condemnation. What is that state
or location of those people to whom there is no condemnation? These people are found to be “in
Christ.” Notice that the promise of no
condemnation is not unconditional. This
promise is to those people who are in Christ Jesus:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus…” (Romans 8:1).
To be in Christ makes all the difference in the world. Are you in Christ Jesus? If you are in Christ
there is therefore now no condemnation.
But the implication is if you are out of Christ Jesus, there is
condemnation. Therefore every person must be in Christ Jesus to receive and
hold on to that promise of “no condemnation.”
Did you
know that all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places are found “in Christ
Jesus?” There is not one spiritual blessing to be found outside of Jesus
Christ. All spiritual blessings are to
be found only in Christ Jesus. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3). This shows us the sphere
or the location where all spiritual blessings are to be found. Let me give you
a few examples of the spiritual blessings that are found in Christ Jesus.
Redemption is in
Christ Jesus
The Bible
declares in the book of Romans, “being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus.” (Romans 3:24). Redemption is
by and in Jesus Christ.
Forgiveness is in
Christ Jesus
Forgiveness
of sin is in Christ Jesus. To the church of the Colossians Paul declares, “For he has
rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the
Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14).
A New Creature in Christ Jesus
We are a new creature in Christ
Jesus. This is because we have been born
into the family of God. The Bible
declares, “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come!” (2 Corinthians 5: 17).
Spiritual and
Eternal Life is in Christ Jesus
Finally,
we shall mention one more spiritual blessing that is to be found in Christ
Jesus. Spiritual life and eternal life is in Christ. The prologue to the Gospel
of John says, “In him was life, and that
life was the light of men.” (John 1:4.) And even now in Christ we have the
prospect and promise of eternal life: “And
this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not
have life.” (1 John 5: 11-12).
All
spiritual blessings such as redemption, forgiveness of sins, a new creature,
spiritual and eternal life, are all to be found in Christ. These are just a few of the spiritual
blessings that are to be found in Christ Jesus.
And of course our lesson today focuses on the negative spiritual blessing that is in
Christ Jesus, and that is, “NO CONDEMNATION.” All who are outside of Christ
Jesus are condemned. All who are outside of Christ Jesus are dead men walking
like the man in the movie, the Green mile.
Would it not be terrible to be facing the death penalty? However would it not be wonderful if the
judge walked up to the condemned and said, you are
free to go? I am acquitting you
of your sentence. You are no longer
condemned. You are free to go. The judge of all the earth has said in his
word, “There is therefore now no
condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.”
(Romans 8:1). “If the Son has made you free, you are free indeed.”
Baptized into
Christ
That
raises the question, how does one get into Christ Jesus? Baptism alone does not put us into Christ
Jesus. The antecedents of baptism are
faith in Christ, repentance of sin, confession of faith, and then one is
baptized into Christ. What are the
antecedents of baptism? One must believe
that Jesus is the Christ the son of God.
One must repent, being filled with godly sorrow for the sin in one’s
life and turning from sin to Christ. And one must make the good confession: “For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10). And then based upon those antecedent
conditions one is baptized into Christ for the remission of sins. Only then can
it be said, “There is therefore now no
condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.”
That is the
reason in this same book of Romans Paul said,
“Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him
through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the
dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:
3-4).
Therefore baptism is a likeness of the death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it is
designed to put us into a state of new life. We die to sin and the old person
who has lived that kind of life is buried and raised to walk a new way of
life. That is the reason that Paul
declares to the Galatians,
“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for
all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
(Galatians 3: 26-27).
The preposition for
in verse 27 assigns the reason for what he had just said in verse 26. He had declared that the Galatians were all
sons of God through their faith in Christ Jesus. Verse 27 assigns the reason why they were all
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
And that was because their faith led them to be baptized into Jesus
Christ. Therefore salvation is not by
faith alone nor by baptism alone, but by all of the conditions of the gospel.
Baptism is not a difficult subject to understand if one is honest and open in
approaching the subject. We are baptized or immersed into Jesus Christ and when
that is the case, the promise is, “There
is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1).
There is no condemnation to them who are in the state, sphere and
location of Jesus Christ. What a
wonderful promise!
THE NEGATIVE CONDITION
But I
would not be honest or treating the word of God fairly if I stopped and said no
more, because there are other conditions.
In the King James Version and New King James Version, Paul declares, “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.” (Romans 8:1). The negative condition
of the promise is “that there is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walked not
according to the flesh.” The
inference is that if we are walking after the flesh, there is condemnation
now. The promise is to those who “walk not after the flesh.” What does it mean to walk not after the
flesh? Well, if we can find out what it
means to walk after the flesh, we will then know what it means to not walk
after the flesh. In this same context
the word of God declares, “For those who
live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the
Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”
(Romans 8:5). To walk after the flesh and mind the things of the
flesh is the same thing.
The Promise Is To
Those “Who Walk Not After the Flesh”
First, let us look at the negative condition. The negative condition is that there is “no condemnation to those who walk not after the flesh.” What is the inference? The inference is that if we are walking after the flesh there is therefore now condemnation. The promise is to those “who walk not after the flesh.” What does it mean to walk not after the flesh? If we can find out what it means to walk after the flesh, then we will know what it means to not walk after the flesh. In Romans 8:5, Paul declares, "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh." To "walk after the flesh” and to "mind the things of the flesh" is the same thing. The mind is a beautiful thing. I love to read bumper stickers. One of my favorites was, "Of all the things that I have lost, the thing that I miss the most is my mind.” It is not good for a person to lose their mind and it is not good to "mind the things of the flesh.” But if we have a good mind and use it to serve God, it is a beautiful thing. Our mind is not just the brain. I would say that the mind is how our spirit uses the brain. Remember, Paul declares that to "walk after the flesh" is the same thing as to "mind the things of the flesh.” What is your mind? Your mind is made up of your thoughts, your willpower, your emotions, and your conscience. It is all of that and probably much more that we do not understand. Therefore, when people set their minds on the things of this world that is what it means to walk after the flesh. And to those who do so, there is therefore now condemnation. Let us look at Romans 8:6, "for to be carnally minded is death.” The word carnal is from the Greek word that means the same thing as flesh. This word is also translated flesh. Carnal and flesh means the same thing. If our mind is on the things of the flesh, the things of the world, and we are walking after those things, the apostle Paul declares that it is death. The carnal mind is death. And in Romans 8:7 we are given the reason why the carnal mind is death. The reason is because the carnal or fleshly mind is hatred against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. If our mind is focused upon this world, the things of the flesh, then our mind cannot possibly be subject to the law of God. Why? Because the mind that is focused upon the flesh and the mind that is focused upon the things of God, stand opposed to each other. Romans 8:8 declares, "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Take notice that each one of these phrases all means the same thing. To walk after the flesh, to mind the things of the flesh, to be carnally minded, and to be in the flesh, all mean the same thing. As a result, this type of mind cannot please God and therefore stands condemned. It simply means that our heart, our mind, and our behavior are all focused upon this world.
But
someone will say, please give me some specific examples of what it means to
walk after the flesh. What are some of
the things of the flesh upon which a person might set his mind? That is not difficult to do. Notice what Paul wrote to the churches of
Galatians 5: 19-21
"Now the works of the flesh are
evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions,
jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and
the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who
practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (NKJV)
Now that is quite a catalog of the works of the flesh, is it not? No doubt many more specific examples could be added, but Paul summarized them by saying "and the like.” Anything that is related to this type of behavior, would qualify as the works of the flesh. If a person is living in this kind of a lifestyle, then there is condemnation. If we are walking after the lifestyle of the Spirit, then there is therefore now no condemnation. How do we change our lifestyle from the works of flesh to the right type of behavior?
This can be accomplished by turning hate into love. We can turn our depression into joy, our warring into peace, our restlessness into patience, our selfishness into loving kindness, our evil into goodness, our doubts into faith, our cruelty into gentleness, and our foolish talk into self control. That is what each one of us must do in order to make our lives better.
THE POSITIVE CONDITION
And this brings us now to the positive condition. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1). The Holy Spirit is mentioned in the eighth chapter of Romans at least 19 or 20 times. One must "walk after the Spirit." Let us see if we can find out what that means. If we are not walking after the Spirit, we stand condemned. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who walk after the spirit.” The apostle Paul declares in Galatians 6:7-8,
"Do
not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also
reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he
who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”
Therefore, "sowing to the Spirit" and "walking after the Spirit" is the same thing. The greatest deception is self-deception. We can deceive ourselves into thinking that something is good when it is bad. The prophet Isaiah said, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). That is exactly what is going on in our world today. The devil and his crowd are telling everyone through the media that good is evil and evil is good. And the sad thing is that people are beginning to believe that lie. But Paul says, "Do not be deceived.” Do not mock God. The Greek word for mock is a word that means to turn up your nose at someone. Therefore the warning is do not mock or turn up your nose at God. The reason is because the law of seedtime and harvest works also in the moral and spiritual realm as well as the realm of nature. We will reap what we sow!
The Law of the
Spirit of Life
So what does it mean to walk after the spirit? “There is therefore now no condemnation…to those who walk 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.” (Romans 8:2). The Holy Spirit has a law. The New Testament is the law of the Spirit for God's people today. The Old Testament was the law of the Spirit for God's people in ancient times. God the Father is the first cause in creation, redemption, and providence. Jesus Christ the son of God is the one that brought everything into being. He spoke the worlds into existence. And the Bible says that God the father speaks to us today through his son Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 1:1-2). But the Holy Spirit's work was to bring about law. The Holy Spirit hovered over the universe that Jesus Christ created and which God designed and impressed natural law into the universe. We are able to travel out into space today because we have discovered the laws of nature that the Holy Spirit put into the universe. The Holy Spirit also gave us God's law in the spiritual realm. That is the reason Jesus Christ promised his apostles that he would not leave them orphans when he returned back to heaven. He said he would send the Holy Spirit back to them and the Spirit would guide them into all truth and bring everything to their remembrance. Therefore the Holy Spirit has a law and the reason there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus and walk not after the flesh is because they walk after the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:2-3).
Three Laws
Mentioned
There are three laws that are mentioned in these verses. (1) The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is one law--that is the gospel. That law is the good news that makes us free from sin and gives us the hope of everlasting life. (2) The second law is the law of sin and death. The term law means compelling force. The law of sin and death is a compelling force. That law--that compelling force--is that which motivates people to walk after the flesh when they have no restraint--when the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is not operating in their life. (3) The third law that is mentioned is the Law of Moses. "For 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: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4). The Law of Moses was a good law. There was not anything wrong with that law, except that it made no allowance or remedy for human weakness and sin. The law of Christ is a better law. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" is the perfect law because it does make allowance for human weakness and sin. It offers forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ and the shedding of his blood. Therefore, through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation. What a wonderful promise. But it is a conditional promise.
Minding the
Things of the Spirit
The Bible declares to us how this "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" can make us free from the law of sin and death:
For 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. For to
be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please
God. (Romans 5:5-8).
If one is walking after the Spirit, then that person is "minding the things of the Spirit." That simply means that our spirit in cooperation with the Holy Spirit will be minding the things of “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:2). The Bible declares that to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:6). Paul declares unto us that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2). He says, "they that walk after the Spirit do mind that things of the Spirit." (Romans 8:5-6). That simply means that we focus upon, we set our hearts upon, we set our minds upon and we set our behavior upon "the things of the Spirit."
How Do We Mind
the Things of the Spirit?
Now how do we do that? Just as we have previously noted that to walk after the flesh means that a person's mind and actions revolve around the works of the flesh, in the same way to walk after the spirit means that our mind and actions revolve around the fruit of the spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23). When we live and produce the fruit of the spirit, then that person is walking after the Spirit, minding the things of the spirit, where there is life and peace and freedom from sin. What is the fruit of the spirit? There is no law or compelling force on earth that can outlaw the fruit of the spirit. If everyone would walk after the Spirit, we would have more fulfilling lives, better homes and better congregations of God's people. And our behavior would coincide with the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
The New Birth—Spiritual
Regeneration
Walking
after the Spirit is possible through the new birth or regeneration. The Bible declares, "You are not in
the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwells in
you.” The Bible says plainly that
the Spirit of God dwells in us.
Therefore, we are walking after the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells
in us. And in Romans
The Holy Spirit and the word is not the same thing. The power of the Holy Spirit operates through the power of the word of God. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God work harmoniously together when we do our part. And our part is to mind the things of the Spirit and walk after the things of the Spirit and to submit to the law of the Spirit and live in the Spirit. Therefore the Spirit of God dwells in us when we walk after the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit, and produce the fruit of the Spirit. When we do this we can claim this wonderful promise, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1).
EXHORTATION
Are you in Christ Jesus? Were you baptized into Christ? Were you walking after the Spirit for a while, but then you went back into the world and for some time now you have been walking after the things of the flesh? If so, there is always hope. As long as we are alive and have the consent of our minds, we can change. And God is always ready to forgive us and take us back into his fellowship. But “no condemnation," is upon the conditions that we studied. Therefore, anyone who is subject should choose to make the changes necessary even this very day. We pray that you will.*
*Shelby
G. Floyd delivered this sermon,