The Thing Sin Has Been Condemned
Romans 8:3-4 · Mike Doyle · Feb 4, 2024
Romans (2022-25), No. 060
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926193467482

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Last week, Roger spoke about no condemnation in Christ Jesus. And verse one and two, now really what, verse one through eight is kind of a block of information. And so over the next three weeks, we'll work our way down to eight. I think that's right, eight. And then Roger will pick up in nine, and just like we did in chapter seven, the information there is in different blocks.

So we discover that without Christ, without his work on the cross, there wouldn't be any salvation. That's probably the easiest thing we're gonna say today. Without the presence and the constant operation of the Holy Spirit, there would be no application of that salvation to us. You get that part? No revelation, we wouldn't know.

So Romans is a book that's all about salvation in Jesus Christ. And talks about him crucified and why crucifixion is so important. And the teaching of the work of the Holy Spirit in Romans regards as fundamental operation, just as the fundamental phrase, phases of Christ's work that are presented here. In other words, Romans 6. Romans 3-6 has to do with what Christ did.

Let me start over. Romans 3-5.11 are what Christ did for us. He died to pay the penalty for our sins. Now we're gonna talk about what God did to us different, okay? And sometimes you find out in Romans 8 that it's hard to understand it a little bit because you can't, you have to get that mindset of what he did for me is not what he's talking about now, it's what he did to me, okay?

Christ Jesus and Him glorified is what concerns our perfecting as believers. It's all about the Lord Jesus and His glorification. The eighth chapter of Romans is in the instinctive goal for every believer. And it doesn't matter initially whether you can tell why, but that's what it's all about.

It's all about the goal of what it means to live and function as a believer. whether or not you can give the great doctrinal facts that give him comfort here or give you comfort here, he is nevertheless like a storm-tossed sailor, mariner, who has arrived at his home port and has cast anchor, and he's finally arrived at Romans 8 where he can rest a little bit. The storm doesn't stop, but he can rest because he's at home. So you get that in Romans 8 when you spend some time just sort of slowly going through it. The reasons are that what does a believer find in Romans 8?

He finds himself in the hands of the blessed comforter, the Holy Spirit, the indwelling spirit where he finds life and peace. The Christian life, a lot of times, and spiritual growth isn't very peaceful. And as we discovered in Romans chapter 7, It can be very, very tough when you're dealing with the sin nature.

And then he finds himself without cause in himself to be called one of God's elect. He decided, he elected me. Involved in a great divine purpose that will end at his being conformed to the image of Christ. Maybe at this point I should raise your hand if you want to be conformed to the image of Christ. It's his image. We're to be like him. And then he finds also himself beloved in Christ and therefore never to be separated from his love. Never, never. Sometimes it might seem that way, but never to be separated from his love.

Romans 8 then comes after the work of Christ. Little review here. After Christ's atoning blood was put, put the believer's sins away. As we've learned through 5, 6, and 7, the blood of Christ put my sins away. It paid all the penalty and all the guilt I had away. But that's one of those things he did for me.

And after, Romans 8 comes after, he has seen also that the believer, you and me, we died with Christ. And as we go through eight, we find out why that is so critically important. Imagine, we died with Christ to sin, the principle of sin, and also that the legal responsibility that we had in Adam, and we find out that sin won't have dominion over you, what's the reason?

For you're not under a law principle anymore, You're under a grace principle. And they're different. Grace is an operating principle that believers are to live under. Everybody else lives under a law principle. And initially, I think you look at grace as something that's, I can do what I want. It's not like that. It's the greatest motivator there is, to live the Christian life.

And then finally, after we studied Romans 7, The helpless struggle, hopeless struggle, of Paul is shown in the flesh to be incurably bad. This is Paul the Apostle, after he's saved, after he knows he's died with Christ, still has this battle going on that he cannot control the sin nature, no matter what he does. He wants to, he wills to, but he finds that he's doing a thing that he hates. That's, like we said a month ago, if I went to a doctor and told him exactly that, I am suffering under my sinful nature, and I can't do anything about it, and he would say, you need counseling. No, I don't. I need God's Word. That's what I need. I need to find out what God did about that.

And that's what Romans 7, 12 tells us. And when we get now into Romans 8, it starts to tell us the ramifications of that having happened. After the helpful struggle of Paul was shown in the flesh the incurably bad and that there is a blessed deliverance, which though not changing the body of death, the body on men didn't change, got the same old body, nevertheless it gets freedom. from therefrom through the Lord Jesus Christ, William Newell.

I'm free, positionally free. We talk a lot about position and condition. I am free. I don't have to respond to sin. And not because somebody told me not to. I'm free because I live under grace. So we find out there's no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. How many believers do you know that at some point in your conversation with them will say, boy, I feel really condemned about that? Is that a good statement? Can you say that and be biblically sound? When Romans 8, one says, there's no condemnation for them, key in Christ Jesus.

You know why I like in? Because I'm a realtor. You know what realtors think is the most important thing there is? Location, location, location. Where am I? I'm in Christ. That's the most important location. So in the whole world today, there's only two locations you can be in. You can either be an Adam or you can be in Christ. That's it. Those are the only two choices there are, Adam or Christ.

So for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death. If you would insert for the law of the spirit of life like Roger talked about, the law is not a statute here, it means a principle. for the principle of the spirit of life, how it functions and operates, has already freed me from the principle of sin and death. Positionally, that's what I have. So if I look back at the struggle on seven and therefore shout in 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ. Pretty exciting.

Those that are in Christ Jesus and nobody else is in focus in all of that section, only believers. is because of the Spirit acting as the principle of life. He is the principle of life. Delivering the believer from the opposing principle of sin and death that he is yet unredeemed body and my members that there's no condemnation. Because of the location I'm in, I'm in Christ.

That's the most important part. I think that in talking to believers and teaching believers, this is of utmost importance, that you understand your location. Where are you? The Spirit of God crucified you, took you out of Adam, buried you, you rose again, and now you're in Christ. Location is everything. Does that make sense? I hope it does.

So the subject in one through four is no longer Christ's work for us that we said, but the Spirit's work in us. So without the Spirit within as a law or a principle of life, there'd be nothing but condemnation. If he wasn't there, we'd be condemned all the time. For the new man has no power within himself apart from the blessed Holy Spirit.

What do you think Paul learned in chapter seven? He knows who he is. He knows where he lives, he knows that he's in Christ, but the problem he had is he was using everything from Adam, Adam's will, his determination to get free from sin and he couldn't do it. So somebody outside, just like the Lord Jesus outside of you is the one who saved you, the Holy Spirit in you is the one that delivers you.

We're dependent, like it or not, I don't care if you're Americans. We're dependent on God to do the work that he has intended to do, which is conform us to Christ. So what we have found in our study of Romans is that Romans is a book of foundational truth. That's really what it's all about. The work of the Holy Spirit in a believer is set out in chapter eight is fundamental, it's essential to the believer's understanding of his complete salvation, not just the fact that my sins have been put away, but I've been completely saved, new creature in Christ, and necessarily be understood by all of us. It's interesting how careful God is in his word to let us know what he's done to us, to make us acceptable to him.

So, no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. We already talked about that, so I'm gonna go through this. Roger told me I had too many slides, so there goes one of them. For the principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus freed me from the principle of sin. The law here is not, I've already talked about this, you know what, we're gonna do two slides. There they go. Now, verse three, the slides we're talking about today.

For the thing the law couldn't do, gee, I thought the law could do anything. because it was powerless or weak on account of the flesh. God having sent his own son in the likeness of flesh of sin and for sin, what did he do? He condemned sin in the flesh. Really interesting verse because to find out that the law could not motivate a man to live a spiritual life.

God knew this all the time. So what does he do? He fixes the problem. How did he do it? The question here in chapter 6-8 entirely regards, we're talking about the thing sin itself, not your sins, your actions. We're talking about the source of your sins, which is, when you see it in your Bible, it usually doesn't have a, it does have the definite article in front of it. It's by itself, singular, sin. It's a noun, and it means that thing, which is your sin nature, It's sin itself. We're not talking about penalty and guilt here. We're talking about this thing that's the cause of your sin.

Romans 8.3, God tells us that sin, as connected with the flesh, has been condemned, dealt with, although it has not been removed. Therein lies the problem for believers. It's condemned, but it's not removed. You gotta live by faith. So, interesting statement of fact. I don't know if you remember a few weeks ago, Roger did kind of statements of fact like this. I really liked them, so I had to do one myself.

Romans 8, 1 says, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. First proof, Romans 8, 2, the law. of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus or the principle of spirit in Christ Jesus has set me free from the principle of sin and death. Proof number one. Proof number two is this verse.

For what the law couldn't do and it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, what did he do? He condemned sin in the flesh. What's the conclusion? so that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. So, nice verse, verse four. Problem is, it's kinda, there's always this question about, well, how did he fulfill it in us? Did the Spirit of God come and dwell in me so that I could keep the law?

That's not what these verses are saying. He said he condemned sin in the flesh. So we find out a couple of things. God did the thing that the law couldn't do. The thing that God did was to make possible a walk consistent with Christ's work on the cross by the Spirit of God indwelling us. The reason that the law was enabled to bring about this kind of life rests in the sinful, weak flesh. The horsepower's there, the flesh couldn't respond.

You know, we've used this same example over and over again. You take a two-year-old, put him in your living room, put a glass of juice on the table and say, don't touch this. What's he gonna do? It shows that the law causes you to get sinful. Remember Paul said in Romans 7, when the law said you can't covet, you can't desire, his answer was, well, as soon as I saw that, All kinds of desires flamed up in me. Well, if that's the principle I'm dealing with, God has got to come along and do something about that. And what he did, he didn't condemn the law, he condemned the flesh. Condemnation.

God's plan, So although sinless, our Lord Jesus Christ was born in the likeness of sinful flesh. He became a fleshly man. He didn't have a sin nature, but he's a man. Really key, had a fleshly body. A body that could die, as evidenced by his death on the cross. His purpose was to get at the thing sin itself. That's what he's after. As it's connected with this human flesh. So, and to deal with it at the cross in a way of righteous condemnation. So that sin would no longer have rights in the human's body. You don't realize until you progress in Christian life that your sin nature controls you.

And by the way, where did the first sin nature come into existence? In the Garden of Eden, right? And what was the fruit that Adam ate? It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So what we find out is that the sin nature can do good. It can wear a coat that looks really good. The problem is it's the wrong nature because it's been condemned by God because of Adam's sin. So. There are two great facts for the believer to recognize here in this verse, which Paul develops concerning Christ's work on the cross.

First, his blood shed for the punishment of our guilt. We're all been taught that year in and year out. We always think of the righteous claims of God's throne against us and of their being fully met by Christ's shed blood and our being brought near to God. We're all overly familiar with that.

But the second thing is that our death with Christ made the thing sin for us because our condition of total sinfulness as connected with Adam and consequently in the flesh, we died with Christ. That was the reason he did it. Because he knew if he crucified you, he could condemn sin. And if you're condemned, your sin nature is condemned. He did it by including you and me in the cross of Christ. So when a believer When we believe on Him, Christ became our new Adam.

Does that make sense? Christ is now where we come from, and our history is not only dated back to the cross, but to eternity now. You know, there's a lot going on in our society today about finding out where you came from. The problem is, if you spend the money to find out where you came from, you find out you came from sin all the way back.

Imagine if you could do that same thing from a spiritual standpoint of who you are in Christ, what would you find out? He came from glory back before he ever created anything. He knew you in Christ. Well, how'd he get you there? He got you there by crucifying you, burying you, and resurrecting you in Christ. That's how he did it.

Trouble is that the sin nature didn't go away, but it was separated from me so that I don't have to obey it now. The command to reckon myself dead to sin, why? Because I did die. He wouldn't command me to do something that he hadn't already done. So our history in Adam was ended before God so that he can plainly say, you're not in the flesh anymore. We were there once, but we're not there now. Location.

Romans 7.5 says, for while we were in the flesh, The sinful passions or desires which were aroused by the law, oh gee, the law aroused them, were at work in our members of our body to bring forth fruit unto death. But then 8.9's gonna tell us, however, you're not in the flesh but in the spirit. Pronunciation by God says to you, you're in the spirit, you are not in the flesh.

So God's purpose was to condemn sin in the flesh, dealing with it judicially, as connected potentially with the whole human race, but only actually true believers. In Romans 3, sin has been condemned as connected with human flesh. This gives God the righteous right to transform and catch up into glory the bodies of his saints. You realize that when the rapture happens, if you're all here, that your body will be transformed and it's all based on what happened here. It gives God the right to do that because you're not attached to the sin nature anymore. It also gives the risen Christ the glorious right to live in your body.

Well, we are on the earth and to walk in us therefore daily in resurrection victory gives them a right to do that. The only condition for such a victorious life is that we ourselves walk by the indwelling spirit which has been given to us. We depend on him to do what the word of God says he's gonna do, why he's been sent. The question here is not one of atonement for guilt but of dealing in judgment with that which was not atoned for. We talked about a month ago, God forgave you your sins. Did he forgive your sin nature? Answer, no, he didn't. He condemned it. He didn't forgive it. He condemned it. And that's a good thing he did because all these other things now are going to be true of us because he did do that.

The evil of our sin nature is not atoned for, but is judged at the cross. This is a quote from John Darby, which is 150 years old, so bear with me. God condemned, or as you might say, executed sin in the flesh for us by the death of Christ. He did not die only for my sins, though that's true, but for my sin, S-I-N. The root of sin that is in my nature and that which worries and distresses the heart of a sincere believer daily is put away for faith by death, and we're dead to it. God has settled the question. condemned the sin in you which you condemn, but where has he done it? Outside of yourself altogether. He takes away the condemnation of sin in the nature by God's judgment being executed on the sinless flesh of his own son. Thus sin in the flesh is judged as well as my committed sins. From John Darby.

So the thing the law couldn't do was accomplished by God. The law was powerless to account of the flesh. The law holy and just and good could command, could tell you what to do, but the flesh was not subject to it and it couldn't be. Therefore the law could forbid, rebuke, reprimand, curse sin, but it could not effectively condemn it as connected with the flesh.

When Christ comes, thank God, we shall be freed from the very presence of sin. That's our ultimate salvation. You know, we've been freed from the penalty. We are now, today, being freed from the power of sin because of this. And there will come that day when we're actually freed from the very presence of sin. The battle will be over. When Christ comes back, God shall free us from the very presence of sin, but it has already been condemned, the flesh, and we should reckon it so by us all. We should all reckon ourselves dead unto sin and alive unto God. Just as really as our sins were put away by the blood of Christ, so was sin and the flesh condemned, and judgment was executed upon it.

So last verse, sow that. I like to sow that, it means it. We're gonna sum this up. The requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Again, here's another one of those. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8, 1, 2, for the law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of death. OK, Romans 8, 3, for what the law couldn't do that was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and offering for sin and condemn conclusion. that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. The law commanded a holy, righteous walk towards God. No problem with that. And towards our neighbor.

Galatians 5.14 tells us, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

That's what God said. The law furnished no power to accomplish the command. Now think about it, God says here's the command, you do it and you realize by the time you get to Romans 7, I don't have the power to do this, I'm stuck. Now in Romans 8, 4 we have three things, the righteous state and result or the purpose Second, the fact that it was not fulfilled by us.

It is fulfilled in us. It's passive voice. You know, a passive voice means that the action is done to me. Third, it is fulfilled in us as we consent to reject the flesh and choose to walk according to the spirit. In the spirit lies all the power. In us, the responsibility of choice of blessed Solomon, that's the thing we have to do. That's what our faith is for. We get to make the decision.

Who's gonna control us? The sin nature, which we've been separated from, or the spirit of life in Christ Jesus? And you know, it's interesting, how did that, how does that law get fulfilled in us? What are the mechanics of that? When Christ died, I died. In other words, the law found me, it tracked me down, it found me, I was guilty, and I was put on that cross, and I died. That's how it's fulfilled.

It has nothing else to say to me now. When any of people you love leave the planet, we say they die, and they go somewhere else. Are they subject to the speed limit on I-25? No, they're not here. Am I subject to the law of God? No, I'm gone. Positionally, I'm under grace. But I get to choose. I get to choose who controls me.

The implication of the word condemned here in this context is as follows. Deposed from its dominion, a thing impossible to the law, which could pronounce judgment, inflict penalty, but not dethrone, Christ's holy character was a condemnation of unholiness, construed in the flesh with condemned. Kenneth Wiest. So this he did in order that the righteousness of the law, we're talking about the righteousness of the law. The law is holy, righteous, and good because it represents God's character.

But Galatians 5.22 tells us, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience." And you all know what that verse is by heart, but 23, 24 says, now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh, with its passions and desires. So I have this new life in 22 and 23, and the flesh has been crucified in me.

And I wouldn't know that if the Word of God didn't tell me, because I'm not going to come up with that. I couldn't think my way to that. So, might be fulfilled in us, not merely be performed by us, for the apostle has a much deeper meaning, namely that the aim of God in giving the law might be accomplished in us in our sanctification, which is the ultimate end of our redemption.

Who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Are descriptive of the Christian and identifying characteristics. That is true of every single believer. The walk is the word peripateo. Walking around, living my life, wherever I go, whatever I do, that's what it means, in order that my behavior and conduct would match the life of Christ.

It also, I know about the indwelling fleshly sin nature. I've been separated from it. I'm now indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and after whose root meaning is down, which suggests domination. The Spirit of God dominates my life now, your life now, because you don't have to obey the flesh. So what's a Christian?

A Christian is one who chooses for the Holy Spirit to direct his behavior in such a way that will manifest Galatians 5.22. My life, your life, has fruit, and that fruit is the love of God, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things. There is no law.

That's what the Spirit's after, producing that life in every one of us, every minute of every day. So, let's pray. Father, how we thank you for the work you've done. In us is sometimes difficult for us to get our arms around, but the grace is so overwhelming that you have met every challenge for us to be with you for all eternity, and you've overcome them, and all of them, through the death, burial, and resurrection of your son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in his name, amen.