We are at Romans 8:1 - Roaming Through Romans.  We are in a section of Paul’s letter to the church of… Rome - in which we are looking at the choices we make in life.  How we can respond to God’s grace - the Gospel - what God has done for us through Jesus’ work on the cross - the choices we make to respond to God’s grace in the real time of where we live our lives,

In order to get us thinking about the choices we make in life - we’ll start with a couple of choices.

(cartoon)  First choice:  “Join the Darkside and get a free cookie.”  To join or not to join.

(cartoon) “Oliver, I’ve just received a refund check from the I.R.S. computer.  It’s for $1.8 million.”  “Oh, that’s great, Pop.  Buy yourself a new car.”

“Now look here, Mister Hacker…”  “Listen, Dad… if you don’t keep it, I’ll just go build nuclear bombs.”

“Now son.. That’s a..uh, that’s… well..er.  Look… I don’t need these moral dilemmas..”  “Buicks or bombs, Pop.  Cinch.”

Every day we’re confronted with a number of choices.  We’ve seen that behind every choice we make is one basic bottom line choice.  Which is what?  To turn towards God or to turn away from God.  God is gracious to us giving us the choice to turn towards Him and His grace.

Last August, Nick and I hiked up Mt. Lassen.  This is us at the summit claiming Mt. Lassen for Armenia.  Amazing view from the top - coast to Nevada to Oregon.  In the distance - Mt. Shasta.  Even higher.

Have you ever been up I5 towards Redding - traveling north - about 100 miles away you can see Mount Shasta - just growing and getting larger as you travel north.  This huge majestic mountain over 14,000 feet tall rising up over the foothills.

What we’re coming to here in chapter 8 - starting at verse is like that.  The high point - the focal point - of Paul’s teaching about God’s grace and what it means for us to choose to turn towards God.  There are reasons why this chapter means a whole lot - is greatly comforting - encouraging - to so many of us.

Romans 8 - verse 1 - is Paul’s Theme - his point - his bottom line truth - the summit of where he’s going here in chapter 8. 

Read with me verse 1:  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Verse 1 is one of the most significant verses in all of Scripture.

First this word - “Therefore.”  And whenever we see a “therefore” in Scripture we have to ask, “Wherefore the therefore?”  Therefore refers back to what Paul has been writing about - what we’ve been looking at since chapter 1. 

God reveals Himself to man.  Man rejects God.  Man is hopelessly toast apart from God - eternal epic failure.  But - Paul begins writing in chapter 6 - Paul writes about God’s compelling grace. 

Grace is what?  God’s undeserved favor towards us.

God - sends Jesus to the cross to die for us.  Because God - who is grace - for reasons known only to God - God demonstrates His graciousness - by doing what we could never earn or measure up to - or do for ourselves - no matter how many righteous and holy things we could try doing.

In chapter 6 Paul asked the question:  If we know and experience God’s grace how could we ever even think about turning away from God?  Choosing to turn towards God and His grace should be a no brainer choice for us. 

In the first part of chapter 7 - Paul wrote about the law - God showing us where we fall short of His absolute standard of holiness.  Trying to live in a holy relationship with the holy God - we just don’t have what it takes.  We got nothing.  We’re still toast. 

And the law - which is God’s given to us explanation of what it means to live holy with the holy God - the law just points out where we continually fall short - and that the consequences for our failure are really - really - bad:  eternal death - eternal separation from God and eternal punishment.

All of which should drive us to the no brainer choice of choosing to turn towards God and His grace.

We’re together?

In the last part of chapter 7 - Paul shares from his heart about his own personal struggle with sin.  Paul knows God’s grace.  Yet he also knows his own failure.  No matter how many times he may choose to turn towards God - no matter how great his will power in wanting to turn towards God - he continually fails at living obedient to God.  Continually Paul falls short of God’s holiness.

A struggle that we all can relate to.  Yes?  Repeatedly doing what we know we are self-destructive thoughts, attitudes, and behavior.

Every one of us lives what Paul writes in 7:19:  “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

Paul concludes - chapter 7 - verse 24:  “Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from the body of this death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Looking at his life - looking at our lives - Paul’s conclusion is that our only hope is found in God’s undeserved grace.  Found in Jesus.  God - by His grace paying the penalty for our sin - forgiving sin - restoring us to a right - holy - relationship with Him.  Sin may win battles.  But sin will not win the war. 

All of that is the back story on Paul’s “therefore” here at the beginning of verse 1.

Therefore - because of all that God graciously has done for us in Jesus Christ - there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

That really is one of the great truths of Scripture.  Isn’t it?  Let read that again together:  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Put your own name in there instead of “those”:  There is therefore now no condemnation for __________ who is in Christ Jesus.

We need let that great truth rattle around in our brains and sink deeply into our hearts.  To not cheapen it by complacency or familiarity.  But to marinate ourselves in that truth every day of our lives.

Do you remember the scene recorded in John 8?  Early in the morning Jesus comes to the Temple.  A crowd gathers.  Jesus sits down and begins to teach this crowd.  The Pharisees drag in this woman they’ve caught in the very act of adultery.  Drag her in front of Jesus.  Public condemnation.  No grace shown.  Significantly shameful.    

We remember this?

It’s a set-up.  They knew where to find her and when.  The fact that it’s morning - they probably had been watching this adultery go on for some time.  We have to wonder where their minds were at - vicariously participating in sin and judging others for it.

They drag this woman - probably naked - to the very center of the court of God’s Temple and with dripping hypocrisy remind Jesus of the seventh commandment “You shall not commit adultery” - and the legal requirement of death.

The response of Jesus is powerful.  It confronts the unrepentant pride of the Pharisees and touches the pain of the adulterer’s heart.  This woman who’s been dragged before this crowd in shame - deserving of death.  Jesus words, “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!

The Pharisees leave.  Jesus and this woman are alone - at center court.  There were probably crowds still there/  Maybe there’s noise and confusion.  Maybe there was a uncomfortable silence hanging over the crowd.  But the scene focuses only on Jesus and this woman.  It’s a moment frozen in time.  

“[Woman] Where are your accusers?  Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 

Same word as in Romans 8:1 - “condemnation.”  It’s the Greek word “katakrino.”  It means to put someone under judgment.  They’ve been found lacking - failing to live up to the law - the legal standard.  They’ve been judged.  They stand convicted.  They’re ready for punishment.

“[Woman] Where are your accusers?  Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 

She answers, “No one, Lord.”  Notice she’s come to call upon Jesus as her Lord.  Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either.  Go.  From now on sin no more.”  (John 8:1-11 TNLT, NASB)

All of us have prostituted ourselves with sin - lived in spiritual adultery - failing to live in purity with God.  The law says, “If you sin you die.”  Without Jesus - trying on our own - trying to live by the law - we live under that condemnation.

Yet God in Jesus has set us free from the law.  What Jesus says to this woman is true for each one of us who fall short and yet have turned towards God and His grace in Jesus.  “I don’t condemn you.”

David - perhaps the most famous adulterer in history - is called a man after God’s heart.  Rahab - the prostitute - owner of a brothel - is given a place of honor in the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah.  The Bible - from cover to cover - is a testimony of sin - and of the redemptive - healing - restoring work of God.

Hang on tenaciously to that truth:  For those in Christ - for those trusting in Jesus as their Savior - condemnation does not come from God.  God does not condemn us.

Let’s affirm that together:  “God does not condemn us.”

Tell yourself that:  “God does not condemn me.”

Share that with the person next to you.  “God does not condemn you.”

We need to let the reality of that great truth sink into our hearts each day of our lives.  Amen?

Now... we need to come to a moment of honesty together.  Let’s be honest.  That truth is a hard one to let sink in.  Isn’t it?  Two reasons.  See  if you agree with these.

First:  While condemnation doesn’t come from God it does come from others.  Would you agree with that?

We live in a world where we’re constantly measured by external standards:  What we do.  What we have.  Who we know.  Having the right education - the right job - the right promotion - the right position - the right abilities.  Standards - expectations - we know we can never live up to.

Standards that we know even if we lived up to all that it still wouldn’t be good enough.  We’re condemned if we do.  Condemned if don’t. 

We know we shouldn’t buy into all that.  But we do.

Condemnation can run even deeper.  We carry around in us voices of condemnation that have trained us so well to reject God’s grace.  Parents.  Siblings.  So-called friends.  Co-workers.  Satan - our Adversary himself.  Sometimes with words.  Sometimes with actions.  Over and over again the reinforced message of condemnation.

“I wish you’d never been born.”  “You were an accident.”  “No one could ever love you.”  “You don’t have what it takes.”  “You’ll never amount to anything.”  “You are such a failure.”  “Look at how you’ve messed up your life.”  “How could God ever use someone like you?”

Hal Lindsey - remember him?  Hal Lindsey shared about a girl who was the daughter of one the royal families of Europe.  She had a big, bulbous nose that destroyed her beauty in the eyes of others - and especially in her own eyes.  She grew up with this terrible image of herself as an ugly person.  So her family hired a plastic surgeon to change the contour of her nose.

He did the surgery, and there came the moment when they took the bandages off and the girl could see what happened.  When the doctor removed the bandages, the doctor saw that the operation had been a complete success.  All the ugly contours were gone.  Her nose was different.  When the incisions healed and the redness disappeared, she would be a beautiful girl.

But so deeply embedded was this girl’s ugly image of herself that when she saw herself in the mirror, she couldn’t see any change.  She broke into tears and cried out, “Oh, I knew it wouldn’t work!”

The doctor worked with that girl for six months before she would finally accept the fact that she was indeed different.  When the moment came that she accepted the fact that she really was different, her whole behavior began to change. (1)

We are so conditioned - by how we’ve been brought up - by where we live - to accept what is an outright lie.  If God does not condemn us who are these people who do?  Why should they have a greater say in our lives than God?

The second reason why God’s “no condemnation” is hard for us:  While condemnation doesn’t come from God it does come from us - from within.  Would you agree with that?

Anyone recognize this man?  Captain Chesley Sullenberger.  On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549, left New York’s La Guardia airport for a non-stop flight to the Hudson River.

Remember this?  Wasn’t too many years ago.  At take off two Canadian geese took out the two engines on the plane.  Captain Sullenberger became a national hero after safely landing the plane on the Hudson River and saving all 155 people on board.

Sullenberger said, “I was sure I could do it.  I think, in many ways, as it turned out, my entire life up to that moment had been a preparation to handle that particular moment.”

It was an amazing bit of flying.  Some would say miraculous.  The right pilot at the right time in the right place.  It just doesn’t get any better.

In his first major interview - on 60 minutes - Sullenberger said this, “One of the hardest things for me to do in this whole experience was to forgive myself for not having done something else.  Something better.  Something more complete.” (2)

Wow.  How can he say that?  All 155 people survived.  He’s a national hero.  The whole nation is proud of him.  He was even honored at the Super Bowl. “I need to forgive myself.  I could have done better.”

Martin Luther - the great reformer of our faith - a man used powerfully by God.  3 Sundays ago we celebrated Reformation Sunday.  We probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for what God did through Martin Luther.

As a young monk, Martin Luther would spend up to six hours a day racking his brain to remember and confess sins he’d committed the previous day.  He spent days fasting.  Laid for agonizing hours on the cold hard floor of his cell.  He beat himself.  Always trying to get right with God.

Luther wrote:  “Although I lived a blameless life as a monk, I felt that I was a sinner with an uneasy conscience before God.  I also could not believe that I had pleased Him with my works.  Far from loving that righteous God who punished sinners, I actually loathed Him.  I was a good monk, and I kept my order so strictly that if ever a monk could get to heaven by monastic discipline, I was that monk.  All my companions in the monastery would confirm this… And yet my conscience would not give me certainty, but I always doubted and said, ‘You didn’t do that right.  You weren’t contrite enough.  You left that out of your confession.’” (3)

Can we relate?  We’re so cruel to ourselves.  We never let up.  “I’m such a failure - such a jerk.”  “I can never get it right.”  “I’m worthless.”  “I’ve messed up so bad God could never use me.”  “I’m never going to be good enough.”

Ever been there?

We desperately need to let this great truth sink into our hearts.  Others may seek to condemn us.  We may struggle not to condemn ourselves.  But God does not condemn us.

Paul moves on - verses 2 to 4.  Paul’s point:  God sets us free.

Let’s read together:  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Verse 2:  For the law of the Spirit of live has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 

Two trajectories through life.  Every one of us is on one or the other of those trajectories.  One leads to eternal death.  One leads to eternal life.  Eternal death is forever without God - forever torment - punishment - forever in an extremely nasty - don’t ever go there - place.  Eternal life is forever with God - dwelling with God in a - not to be missed - place.

We’re together?

In the reality - the tension - between those two trajectories is where we live our lives today.  We may be on the towards God trajectory leading up but we struggle against thinking we’re on the trajectory leading down. 

The trajectory leading down means daily wading hopelessly through the crud of this world.  Living in failure and guilt.  Living under condemnation from others - from ourselves.  Living in sin under condemnation from God.  Always facing forever death and punishment without God

We need to get this.  In Jesus we’re “set free” from all that.  In Jesus we are on the trajectory going up.  Freed to live on that trajectory even today.  You are free in Christ Jesus.

Like the law of gravity - sin still pulls at us.  But the moment we trust in Jesus as our Savior - what He has done for us - there’s a new reality in our lives.  In Christ Jesus all that condemns us in this world is not who we are.  In Christ Jesus we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit   We are the forgiven of God.  The spiritually reborn.

Paul expands on that in verse 3:  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

I read a great quote in a sermon by Scott Grant - preaching on this passage - Scott Grant says, “When we punish ourselves with guilt, we’re telling God, ‘The sacrifice of your Son is not sufficient.’ ” (4)

Like that woman caught in adultery we need to get our eyes off of what we struggle with - the Pharisees and their condemnation - the crowds and the temptations and sins and the guilt - to get eyes off of what we struggle with and on to Jesus and what God offers us through Him.  We need to see ourselves as God has made us to be in Christ Jesus.

In Christ, who condemns you?  “No one, Lord.”  Freedom comes from God through Christ.  God sets us free. 

Let that sink in.  “God sets us free.”  Tell yourself that.  “God sets me free.”  Share that with the person next to you.  “God sets you free.”

Coming to verses 5 to 11 - Paul is going to focus on what it means to live free. 

Let’s read verses 5 to 8 together:  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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed it cannot.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

What Paul writes here is a contrast between trajectories.  Paul showing us the difference between what it means to live by the Spirit - living set free by God through Jesus Christ - and what it means to live by the flesh - living in bondage to the sin of this world.

Contrast number one is the focus of our minds. 

The mind set on the flesh is focused on death.  Death that results from sin.  Death that comes from the corruption and decay of what we see going on around us.  Death that results from sin and involves the condemnation of God.

The mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God.  Those with their mind set on the things of this world are living as enemies of God - never subject to Him - never obedient - never surrendered - never able to please God - never able to measure up - always living in failure.

In contrast - the mind set on the Spirit is focused on life - on living life with the living God.  Those focused on the Spirit live at peace with God - a deep sense of rest - calm and confidence - even in the midst of what swirls around us.

The mind set on the Spirit lives in friendship with God - subject to God - surrendered - open to God - able to please God and knowing His pleasure.

Let’s go on.  Read with me starting at verse 9:  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.  But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Contrast number two is the focus of our lives.

People living by the flesh do not belong to God.  They’re dead spiritually.  They live in sin condemned by God.  Death is something to be feared.  And, it should be.  There is no meaning to life - no purpose - no answers.  There is no hope.  The focus of their lives is one large empty unknown.

Those of us who’ve been set free - made alive - by the Spirit have something totally different to focus our lives on.  We belong to God.  We’re sons and daughters of God - heirs of His kingdom.  A people for God’s own possession that He will not let go of.

While our flesh may drag us into sin - spiritually we’re alive.  We don’t need to focus on what’s dying - the corruption and decay of this world.  But, on what is life.

For us there is meaning to life - purpose - answers - the very power and wisdom to live life is supplied by God Himself.  While we may die physically we look forward to resurrection and life eternal with God.  We’re set free to experience a wholeness in life - an abundant fullness in life - that can only come from God.

Are we tracking together on what Paul is getting at here - what it means to live free?

To live with our minds and lives focused on the Spirit - to be set free in Jesus Christ - isn’t about being separated from the things of life - taking out the trash - mowing the lawn - doing the dishes - working at a job - the routine stuff of life.  Living life by the Spirit isn’t about living holy - pious lives - thinking heavenly thoughts and quoting Scripture all day - talking in King James English - “Thou art righteous.”  Living by the Spirit isn’t about checking out mentally or living like a hermit.

To live life in the Spirit - set free by Jesus - is a completely different basis for life - a whole different approach - a completely different attitude and perspective - by which we go about living the daily stuff of life in the real world - with all of what that means - and yet experiencing the tremendous variety and awesomeness that God has created for us to enjoy.

To live life set free means that we live life - not with a view of death - as those who are condemned - but to live life focused on God and His graciousness.

Paul’s application - Paul’s bottom line of where he’s going with all this - comes in verses 12 and 13.  Let’s read these two verses together:  So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Have you heard this?  “I owe.  I owe.  So its off to work I go.”  Debt has the idea of obligation.  What we owe.  Who we’re obligated to.

To be “debtors” is a choice of who choose to allow to control us.  To whom or to what will we owe the focus of our minds and lives - the deeds of our bodies.  Because of Jesus Christ we don’t owe the flesh ’nothin - nada - zip.  Don’t even give it a second thought.  Been there.  Done that.  Finito.

“By the Spirit” means we have a choice.  To keep trying to kill what refuses to stay dead or to cry out to God to seize control of our lives and let the Spirit do His work within us - killing what needs to be killed and giving life to what needs to live.   

“To put to death” is a choice we make every day - every moment - of our lives.  To leave dead what’s been killed.  To stop looking back or thinking that we have some kind of obligation to all that condemns us.  To choose to focus our minds and lives on what is worth living for and to give control of our lives to the Spirit - for Him to take us there.

Hang on to that.  God gives us a choice - to live by the Spirit - and so to put to death the deeds of the body - to not go there anymore.  Astounding.  Isn’t it?

In the parable of the Prodigal Son we know how the son went off and blew his inheritance on wine, women, and song?  Ended up hiring himself out to a Gentile - feeding unkosher pigs - what was humiliating for a Jew.  And he’s starving.  Even the pig food starts looking good.

At some point in all that he comes to his senses and decides to head home to his father - who we know welcomes him how?  With grace - with compassion - with love - restoring him - celebrating the return of the son.  (Luke 15:11-32)

Do you ever think about the pigs?  The difference between the son and the pigs?  No pig - wallowing in slop - ever says, “I’m going to get up and go to my father.”  But the son does.

That’s our choice.  Because we’re not pigs.

When we’re in Christ - we’re not obligated to live in the flesh.  We’re not obligated to live life in sin and the slop of this world.  We’re not obligated to live life looking hopelessly at death.  To live as failures - worthless people - condemned by ourselves and others.

We’re children of God - sons and daughters our Heavenly Father - set free from condemnation by God through Jesus Christ - who desires to lavish His grace, compassion, and love on us.  To restore us.  To give to us a totally different - unimaginable inheritance - the joy of being in His presence - of living life with Him - now and forever.

_______________

1. Hal Lindsey - from the sermon by Ray Stedman, “No Condemnation”, Romans 7:25-8:4

2. Alan Levin, USA TODAY, usatoday.com 02.09.09

3. Quoted by Philip Yancey, “What’s So Amazing About Grace?”  page 207

4. Scott Grant - sermon “Freedom From Condemnation”, Romans 8:1-11

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®  (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.