Outlaws and Inlaws

Reading the first four verses of Romans chapter 8, There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

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. And may God help us to dare to believe what he says in these verses. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

There is therefore now no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus. When Paul wrote those words, he put eight little Greek words on a piece of parchment. They are translated into thirteen English words.

And I want you to know that they are among the most wonderful words ever spoken and ever written. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Now, other wonderful words have been spoken, but I dare say that there are none that are more wonderful than these.

Paul is writing not just to Roman Christians two thousand years ago. He's writing to Christians today in Chicago. He's writing to you and me.

And he wants us to know what God has to say. And he wants us to dare to reach out by faith and seize it and believe it and act upon it. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

He was writing to people who lived in a wicked city. He was writing to people who were living in a police state. He was writing to people surrounded by lust, by excesses, by people living with the grossest kinds of appetites, people who were being tempted to sin, people who were being tempted to discouragement.

And Paul writes to them and says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. It is a most wonderful collection of words. Now, why do I say that this statement is so wonderful? Let me give you three reasons.

First, it is the declaration of a wonderful truth. Now, what is this wonderful truth? That once a sinner has trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, he can never again face judgment. That once a sinner has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and trusted him as Savior, he will never face the judgment bar of God.

That is why I say this statement is a wonderful statement, because it says to me that once you trust Jesus Christ, you are saved and you are saved eternally. Now, would you please notice what it does not say. It does not say, There are therefore now no sins in the lives of those who are in Christ Jesus.

If you look into the mirror, and if you read your Bible, and if you know anything about other people, you know that Christians do sin. Peter sinned and almost killed a man. All the Saints of the Bible have sinned.

It does not say, There are therefore now no sins in the lives of those who are in Christ Jesus. Nor does it say, There are therefore now no mistakes in the lives of those who are in Christ Jesus. Nor does it say, There is therefore now no failure.

All of us have known what it is to fail and make mistakes. Those of us who preach the word of God are more conscious of it, perhaps, than others, because we are focused on it by many, many eyes. But that is not what he is saying.

What he is saying is that when a sinner trusts Jesus Christ as his Savior, he never again can be judged for his sins. There is therefore now no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now, this theme goes all the way through Romans chapter 8. Last week, when we began this little series, we discovered that the theme of Romans chapter 8, one of them, is freedom.

Back in Romans chapter 7, the writer is crying out in verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? That is the cry of people today. Who shall deliver me? And they are trying transcendental meditation. And they are trying drugs.

And they are trying abandonment to sex and lust. And they are trying everything they can find. And the answer is, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You see, in Romans chapter 8, Paul is discussing four freedoms that the Christian can enjoy. Verses 1 through 4, freedom from judgment. Freedom from judgment.

No condemnation. I have God's righteousness. Jesus died for me.

And then in verses 5 through 17, freedom from defeat. No obligation. No obligation to the flesh.

Verse 12, therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh. We have God's spirit within. Christ lives in us.

And then in verses 18 through 30, freedom from discouragement. No frustration. We know that all things are working together for good.

We know that one day we shall share in the glory of God. And glorified I too shall be. And so if we have received God's righteousness, there's no condemnation.

If we've received God's spirit, there's no obligation. If we have received God's glory, there's no frustration. And the final part of this chapter, verses 31 through 39, freedom from fear.

We don't have to worry about the future. There is no separation. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Here then are four very priceless possessions.

The righteousness of God. The spirit of God. The glory of God.

The love of God. Here are four very priceless ministries. Christ died for me.

Christ lives in me. Christ is coming for me. Christ is interceding for me.

Do you mean to tell me after all of that I can be lost? The beautiful golden thread that runs all the way through Romans chapter 8 is that when you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and you have trusted him, there is no condemnation. There is no separation. From beginning to end, God has you.

And what he gives to you, he gives to you for eternity. And so I say this is a very wonderful statement. It's the declaration of a wonderful truth.

The truth that when a sinner believes in Jesus Christ and receives salvation, he never will face judgment for his sin. Now you notice when I read the scripture, and I'm reading from the authorized version, I omitted the end of verse 1. The fact that I am not condemned does not depend on my walk. It depends on my standing.

I think Dr. Ironside put it very beautifully in his commentary on Romans. Let me read it to you because Dr. Ironside had the right way of saying things. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

This magnificent statement requires, says Dr. Ironside, no qualifying clause. It does not depend on our walk. It is true of all who are in Christ, and to be in him means to be of the new creation.

A glance at the revised version or any critical translation will show that what I'm pointing out is sustained by all the editors. Here's the part I like especially. It was man's innate aversion to sovereign grace, I am certain, that brought these qualifying words into the text of the Common Version.

It seemed too much to believe that freedom from condemnation depended on being in Christ Jesus and not upon our walking after the Spirit. And so it was easy to lift the words from verse 4 into verse 1. But in verse 4 they have their proper place. For there the question is one of state.

In verse 1 it is a question of standing that is under consideration. End of quotation from Dr. Ironside. And so it doesn't say, and Paul did not write, There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk.

Your freedom from condemnation does not depend upon your walk. It depends upon your standing. And so I say it again.

This is a wonderful statement because it's the declaration of a wonderful truth. Now, Paul doesn't say you don't feel. Paul doesn't say you don't understand.

Paul is simply saying here it's a fact. If you've trusted Jesus Christ, no condemnation, whether you feel like it or not, whether circumstances seem like it or not, it is still true. And all God wants me to do is just believe his word.

But there's a second reason why this statement is a wonderful statement. Not only is it the declaration of a wonderful truth, but it is the conclusion of a wonderful argument. Now, the Book of Romans is a logical book.

Paul was writing to the saints at Rome, and Rome was known for its law. The Roman law was a very logical, reasonable thing. They had built a superstructure of law which we still borrow today.

And so when Paul wrote this book, he was writing as a prosecuting attorney in a courtroom. And when you walk into the Book of Romans, you are walking into a courtroom. You walk into Hebrews, you're walking into a throne room.

Melchizedek, our great king, priest, high priest. You walk into Ephesians, you're walking into a bridal chamber. But you walk into Romans, you're walking into a courtroom.

And Paul is logically presenting what the gospel is all about. And if you want to follow the argument, just notice the word, therefore. For example, chapters 1, 2, and 3. In chapters 1, 2, and 3, Paul is proving that all men are lost.

In chapter 1, he looks out the window, and he sees people carousing and getting drunk. And he says, these people are lost. And everyone says, Paul, you're right.

We can look at you and see that. We can tell that. In chapter 2, Paul moves over to the philosopher's school, and he finds the moral people, not the carousing people, not the rebellious sinners, but the self-righteous sinners.

He says, I'm sorry, you two, you're lost. And then he moves over into the Jew. And he takes the Jew in chapter 3, and he says, the Jew is lost.

So chapter 1, the rebellious sinner is lost. In chapter 2, the righteous sinner is lost. In chapter 3, the religious sinner is lost.

And he comes to his first conclusion, verse 28. Therefore we conclude, Romans 3, 28, that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. You see, he's come to the conclusion, over in verse 19, that the law of God makes every man guilty.

Now we know that whatever things the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. And so in these first three chapters of his argument, he says, everyone is guilty. The law of God has condemned us all.

And therefore, you can't be saved by keeping the law. The Jew couldn't do it. The moral person couldn't do it.

The pagan couldn't do it. What are we going to do then, Lord? Well, you come to another therefore. Chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In chapters 1, 2, and 3, condemnation. All are guilty. Chapters 4 and 5, justification.

Jesus Christ died to save lost sinners. Now what is justification? Justification is the act of God whereby he declares the believing sinner righteous in Jesus Christ. Justification is not a process.

It's an act. It's not an act that I do. It's an act that God does.

It's an act where God declares that when the sinner believes in Jesus Christ, that sinner is righteous in Christ. Now justification does not change your state. It changes your standing.

Here is a criminal standing before the judge. He's guilty. The record is there.

And yet the judge says, I am going to take your record and I am going to write upon your record justified. That means, to quote the Sunday School definition, just as if I'd never sinned. And so, my friend, when you trusted Jesus Christ, God didn't just simply wipe your record clean.

If that's all salvation is, the next time you sin, you're back in trouble again. When God saved you, he wiped your record clean and then he covered your record with his righteousness and he does not write your sins against you. Now at this point someone says, oh, that's dangerous doctrine.

People will go out and sin deliberately. Read the rest of Romans 8 and you'll find out they won't go out and sin deliberately. The best illustration of justification I ever heard came from Dr. Roy Gustafson, whom many of you have heard.

Dr. Gustafson told about a man who bought a Rolls-Royce. He took his Rolls-Royce to Europe and was driving around enjoying his automobile and he had motor trouble. He said, what am I going to do? Only a Rolls-Royce mechanic can take care of this car.

And so he wired England. And would you believe the Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over to where the man was to fix his car? Well, he fixed the car and he flew back to England and the owner said to himself, this is going to cost me a fortune. And so he wired the Rolls-Royce people and said, please let me know how much I owe you for repairing the motor of my car.

And the Rolls-Royce people wired back, we have no record anywhere that anything ever went wrong with the motor of a Rolls-Royce car. That, my friends, is justification. When the devil points to me and says, look at that fella, God says, I want you to know something.

I have no record that Warren Weersbee has ever sinned. Now, my state is a different thing. He talks about that in the rest of Romans chapter 8. My state is a different thing.

My walk, that's something else. But my standing, it's unchanging. My standing, it's in Christ.

My standing, no condemnation. And Paul comes to this great conclusion. Therefore, the whole world is guilty.

Therefore, being justified by faith. Now he steps up and says, therefore, since we are justified, we are no longer guilty. And therefore, there's no condemnation.

In fact, he's so happy about this that he ends the chapter the same way. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Shall God that justifieth? Who is he that condemneth? Shall Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? You know who makes charges against God's elect? God's elect do. Some of the Saints can't let the rest of the Saints forget what they did.

But God doesn't do that. The devil's got a lot of helpers. He's the accuser of the brethren.

And so I say that this statement's a wonderful statement because it is the conclusion of a wonderful argument. Logically, Paul says we're all sinners. Christ died for all of us.

If we trust him, we're justified by faith. If we're justified, we're no longer guilty. He no longer writes our sins against us.

Our sins and our iniquities he remembers no more. As far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. He has buried them in the depths of the sea.

He has put them behind his back. It would be great if the Saints had quit turning around trying to look behind God's back. Therefore, there's no condemnation.

Oh, my friend, the devil wants to remind you of your past sins. He's got a good record of them. And he throws them at you.

And when he does, you just say, Have you read lately Romans 8.1? There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. It is the declaration of a great truth, a wonderful truth. And it is the conclusion of a wonderful argument.

But even more, it is the invitation to a wonderful life. You see, Romans doesn't stop at 8.1. It keeps on going. And in verses 2, 3, and 4, Paul talks about this freedom that we have.

We are no longer condemned by God's law. That bothers some people, that Christians are not under law. You see, when we were lost sinners, we were outlaws.

Now that we are saved people, we are in-laws. The law has been put into us. Now let me explain it to you from verses 2, 3, and 4. This is an invitation to a wonderful life.

God doesn't want you to wake up in the morning and say, Oh, I'm under the wrath of God. I'm under the law of God. Oh, how can I ever please God today? You live like that, you'll be a grouch.

You'll be a poison. You know, one of the greatest curses in our churches today is legalism. Now what do I mean by legalism? Setting up high standards, worshiping those standards, and trying to live up to them in your own strength.

That's legalism. There's nothing wrong with standards. The higher the standards, the better.

But if you want to raise your children to be frustrated, just expect a 2-year-old to be like a 15-year-old, and keep scolding her because she's not like her big sister. She's not like her big sister. And you say to me, well, don't talk to her like that.

You can't expect a 3-year-old to be like a 20-year-old. And that dear little child lives under fear and bondage. I have learned the hard way that many Christians like to be harder on other people than they are on themselves.

Jesus had a word for this, hypocrisy. And the legalist sometimes is the greatest hypocrite. He has high standards for everyone else but himself.

And that's why I have to be very careful as a pastor not to become a hypocrite. Now, what does Paul say in verses 2, 3, and 4? He's saying that you and I are free. We are free from law.

God is no longer running our lives on the basis of law. Now, look at it. Verse 2, the law cannot claim you.

If you're saved today, the law cannot claim you. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Now, what is the law of sin and death? It's the moral law of God.

The moral law of God reveals sin, and it leads to death. The wages of sin is death. And yet, verse 2 is saying the law cannot claim me.

I have been made free by a new law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. When you were saved, the Holy Spirit came in. When you were saved, God's life came in.

Let me illustrate it. Here's a man and his little boy walking through the garden, and an apple falls off the tree. And the boy says, Daddy, what made the apple fall off the tree? And he said, Well, son, that was gravity.

God has built into this universe a law of gravity that things fall. He said, Well, Daddy, how come we're not falling? And how come those flowers aren't falling? Oh, he says, we have life in us. And because we have life, we are able to counteract the law of gravity.

Second illustration, you go out to O'Hare Field where, what, 1,100 planes a day take off and land? I was looking at one of them yesterday. I don't know how they ever got the thing out there, let alone up. Here is this massive, huge piece of machinery.

And I say, you'll never get it off the ground. There's a law of gravity that says that thing is too heavy. We have a new law, though.

We have learned about the laws of aeronautics and dynamics, and this new law counteracts the old law. That's what verse 2 is talking about. God didn't leave you to be an outlaw.

Say, hey, I'm not under law. Oh, I can live the way I please. No.

No Christian wants to live the way he pleases. We're not outlaws. We're in-laws.

He gave us the Holy Spirit within us, and therefore the law cannot claim you. My friend, you put yourself back under law, and you'll sin more, because law has a way of drawing out the worst in us. I've had people come to me and say, Pastor, I said to myself, I'm not going to do this anymore.

When I say I'm not going to do it anymore, I do it more. I said, sure, it's Romans 7. It's right there in Romans 7. The things I would, I do not. The things I would not, those I do.

But the law, my friend, cannot claim you. You have been set free from that law. And in verse 3, he tells me that the law cannot condemn me.

Verse 2, the law can't claim me. Verse 3, the law can't condemn me. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.

Now, the law wasn't weak. The law is strong. I'm weak.

And God says, Thou shalt not. And my body and my nature say, Oh, yes, I will. Didn't I tell you about the time I was standing over in Lincoln Park? They'd painted all the benches green.

It's an odd color for Chicago, but they'd painted all these benches green. And they put signs on all the benches, Do Not Touch. And I stood there and watched for at least 20 or 25 minutes, and everybody who went by those benches reached out and touched them.

Now, I dare say if the police had put a sign up saying, Everybody must touch this bench, they'd say, Oh, you can't make me. That's human nature. You see, the law is strong, but our nature is weak.

In that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Now, let me pause there. He did not send Jesus in sinful flesh.

He was perfect. Nor did he send him in the likeness of flesh. He was a man.

He sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh. But he was not sinful, and yet he was made sin for us. He condemned sin in the flesh.

What's verse 3 saying? Oh, get a hold of this today. Verse 3 is saying the law cannot condemn you because it has already condemned Jesus Christ. He bore the curse of the law on his body, on the tree.

He was made sin for us. He felt the outpouring of the justice and the wrath of God. Now, God will not pour that out upon you.

And so the law comes to you and says, You're condemned! And I say, Sorry, Mr. Law, I'm not condemned. You're the one that's condemned because on the cross Jesus Christ fulfilled the law. So the law cannot claim me, verse 2. And the law cannot condemn me, verse 3. And verse 4 says the law cannot control me.

Oh, if I could only convince people that it's not by setting up rules and regulations, nothing wrong with discipline. I have disciplines in my life. They save me a lot of trouble.

The discipline of prayer, setting aside time to pray, that's a good discipline. The discipline of rest, setting aside time to sleep, it's a good discipline. Paul's not talking about spiritual disciplines.

Paul is talking about legalism. Paul is saying to me, Preacher, if you set up these high goals and high standards and try to reach them in your own strength, you're putting yourself under law. But the law cannot control you.

What does control us? The Holy Spirit, verse 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Notice it doesn't say we fulfill the righteousness of the law. It doesn't say the righteousness of the law is fulfilled by us.

It says the righteousness of the law, what God requires, is fulfilled in us. How? Through the Holy Spirit because we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Justification is my position, not my practice.

Sanctification is my practice based on my position. And so he says, look, the law cannot claim you. You're free.

The law cannot condemn you. You're free. The law cannot control you.

You are free. The Holy Spirit within is the one who gives you this beautiful freedom and it's based on love because the fruit of the Spirit is love. And when you love the Lord Jesus, you don't want to go out and disgrace his name.

And so verses 1 through 4 of Romans chapter 8 are saying to you and me, look, enter into this life, this life of liberty. Don't be in bondage to law. Don't be in bondage to religion.

Don't be in bondage even to your own high ideals. It's good to have high ideals, but the minute you try in your own strength to fulfill them, you'll fail. Then you get discouraged.

The answer is just to walk in the Spirit. As we walk in the Spirit, the Lord fulfills his will in our lives. And so this is a marvelous statement, a wonderful statement.

It's the declaration of a great, wonderful truth. If you're saved, you can never be judged. It's the conclusion of a wonderful argument.

Lost, guilty, justified, no condemnation. It's the invitation to a wonderful life, a life of freedom, a life of fulfillment, a life of the Holy Spirit just working. And in successive Sundays, the Lord willing will be talking about how this works, that you and I might enjoy this liberty in Christ.

Free from the law, oh happy condition, Jesus has bled and there is remission. My friend, do you know this freedom? Oh, do I speak to someone now who says, I've never been saved, I've never known what it is to be able to say, not guilty, but today I'd like to have that experience. You can.

You can come and trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. And Christian friend, if you do know him, enjoy that liberty. Just let the Holy Spirit of God work out his will in your life and stand on this great truth.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Heavenly Father, we give thanks, our Lord, for this truth. It's too good to be true, but it is true.

We don't deserve it, but Father, we're going to believe it and we're going to claim it and we're going to live upon it and enter into that joy that we have in the liberty of Christ Jesus, for where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty. Oh, Lord, deliver sinners from bondage today. Deliver saints from bondage today.

And may we enter into this wonderful experience in Christ, for we pray in his name. Amen.