Romans: No Condemnation – The Gospel Church

Good morning.

It’s good to be here with you all this morning.

We canceled in-person services this morning because of the snowstorm, but I am thankful we have the opportunity to share a little message with you online. The country roads most of us live on are in pretty bad shape. It doesn’t look like anything at all has been done to clear them off. And it looks like it’s going to snow and maybe turn to rain and ice later on, so we are just going to cancel both services today.

So, I welcome everyone listening online. If you would, turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 8. And I am going to focus this short message just on two of the verses we read in our last message—just the first two verses of the chapter.

Romans 8
King James Version
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Let us pray. Lord, as we approach your word, I pray you speak to us by your Spirit. Help us to grow in understanding. Grant us clarity. Feed our souls. And open our hearts and minds to the power of the gospel. Let it be in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Well, praise the Lord. I know we looked at these verses last week, but I felt like there was a little more to be said on these two verses, and this might be just the perfect opportunity to spend a few minutes to look at these verses just a bit deeper than we did last time.

Let me start by just pointing out the really key words there in verse 1: “There is therefore…” Therefore. Or because. All this is because of something, and it is because of what God did for us through Jesus Christ—through His death, burial, and resurrection. He paid for our sins, and He triumphed over death. It is because of that Paul can write these verses down, and that is why we have the word “therefore.” Therefore. And read the next word: “Therefore now…” Now. Another important word here, and a powerful one. Now, right now. Immediately. Right here in our present. Not something we are waiting for off in the future, but right here, immediately, this thing Paul is talking about is true. And it is now because of what God has already done through Jesus Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation.” Look, no condemnation. That word “no” tells us there is absolutely none—not one shred, not one stripe, not one spot, not one speck, not the tiniest little bit of condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

And what does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? How do we get in Christ Jesus? How do we partake of that union with Christ? We must be born of the Spirit. We must receive that eternal life into us. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should have everlasting life and not perish. As Paul explains to us in this chapter, that everlasting life is a product of the Holy Spirit in us. We can’t have everlasting life without also having the Holy Spirit in us. If you have everlasting life, you have the Holy Spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit, you have everlasting life.

And how do we get it? How do we get in Christ Jesus so that we can say the same thing about ourselves that Paul is saying here? How can we say, “There is therefore now no condemnation for me because I am in Christ Jesus”?

Paul explains that right here in Romans, but let’s go back and read a few of the words of Jesus, because Paul here really is just repeating what Jesus said. Paul didn’t come up with this stuff himself. He learned it, he spent time with the other apostles, and he knew the sayings and teachings of Jesus.

So, let’s see what Jesus said. Let’s go back to the book of John, chapter 3, and I will read verse 16, probably the most well-known verse in the entire Bible.

John 3:16
King James Version
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus is telling us here the same thing Paul was telling us: If we believe in Christ, we will not perish; we will have everlasting life. And what is so beautiful here is that He is telling us, if we believe in Him, this will be true. And that is all there is to it. If we are believing in Jesus for our salvation, we have everlasting life. If you believe in Christ for salvation, you have everlasting life. That faith in your heart, that itself is proof you have everlasting life.

You might say, “But I still have this wrong or that wrong. I know I have this shortcoming or that shortcoming. How can I have the Holy Spirit and eternal life but still have these struggles?”

Maybe you are like Paul, from chapter 7 of Romans, and you struggle with covetousness from time to time. You have to quit looking at yourself, and you have to start looking at Jesus. You are not good enough; you will never be good enough. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive and do your best, but quit looking at yourself. As long as you look at yourself, you will feel condemnation for sure. But you have to do what Paul did: once you get to Romans 8, Paul quit looking at himself, and he started looking at Jesus. He fixed his eyes on the author and finisher of his faith, and he said, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” He recognized the very fact he had a struggle within himself was proof that the Spirit of God was working in his life.

Do you think you would have some deep internal conflict about being a little covetous if you didn’t have the Spirit of God in you? Do you think a little child has any sort of internal conflict when they get jealous and won’t share their toys? There is no conflict in them over that; they don’t even realize what they are doing is wrong. But when we have the Spirit of God in us, we have conflict when there is something wrong. We feel bad. We wrestle with ourselves. Paul recognized that internal wrestling was itself evidence that the Holy Spirit was dwelling within. And if the Holy Spirit was dwelling within, then that meant he had everlasting life, and that he would never perish—because Jesus said so.

Jesus said that anyone who believed in Him would not perish. And Paul knew he was believing in Him. And Paul knew something else Jesus said. Turn over to chapter 5 of John. Read verse 24.

John 5:24
King James Version
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.

You know, that verse right there is something. I read it this morning, and it made me stop in my tracks and just marvel at the goodness of God. Let me just read it again.

John 5:24
King James Version
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath (already, past tense) everlasting life, and shall not (future tense) come into condemnation, but is (present tense) passed from death unto life.

It doesn’t matter what comes our way. If we are believing in Christ, we already have eternal life, and in the future, we will never face any condemnation because we have already passed from death unto life.

The moment we believe in Christ, all of this is true about us. And the Holy Spirit, that dwelling in us, that is what gives us everlasting life. You can’t have everlasting life without also having the Holy Spirit abiding in you.

And someone might say, “Well, what about baptism?” Well, Jesus said baptize those who believe, and that is what we should do—baptize them. And if we really believe, our hearts are going to desire to obey the words of Jesus.

I want to point out to you that what Paul is saying in Romans chapter 8 is entirely repeating the words of Jesus Christ. He did not get this understanding through a vision or an angelic visitation or anything like that. Paul was just repeating the words that Jesus spoke and that are recorded in the Gospels.

Now let’s take what Jesus said and go back to Romans, chapter 8.

I hope we can see what Paul is doing there in verse 2. He is taking the words of Jesus, the words we just read, and he is telling us that the fact we have this everlasting life, the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, gives both proof and certainty that we are free from the law of sin and death. We are free from the condemnation associated with sin and death because of the Spirit of life. And that Spirit of life, it was first in Jesus. That Spirit of life resurrected Jesus from the grave. It is a Spirit of life, everlasting life. And it is a law, or a principle, that the Spirit of life will yield life. And when the Spirit indwells us, we are under that law, or that principle—the body might die—just like Jesus, but we will live, and this body will be raised again. So we are ultimately free from the law of sin and death.

That doesn’t mean we won’t still experience these things. And the history of the church bears witness. Every Christian that has lived before us has died. All of them. Their bodies were buried. There are people out there who say Christians never die. But people who say that, they are brainwashed. I heard them even say that sort of thing at funerals. And when people die, they say, “Well, they are healed now.” No, their body is not healed; their body is dead. People like that are deranged and dangerous. Those are the kind of people who will kill if you aren’t careful. And I have watched people like that kill over and over.

But we are still subject to these things. And when Paul says we are free from the law of sin and death, we realize there is more than one aspect in how we understand that. We are free, right now, from the condemnation that comes with the law of sin and death. There is therefore NOW no condemnation. There will be no penalty, no judgment from God, associated with the law of sin and death because of what Jesus has done for us. But this body may still die.

In the sense of condemnation, we are free from the law of sin and death. But in the sense of its presence, I am not free from it. This body will still die. And it is not until I am free of this body of death that I will finally be totally free from this law of sin and death. It’s a work in progress. It is redemption in progress.

But now, right now, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We have already passed from death to life, and that is positionally, in the eyes of God. But it is not fully a reality in terms of our experience.

And I think it is important for us to understand that. There is a way in which we are already free from the law of sin and death. But there is a way in which we are not yet free. But Jesus Christ has already paid for and procured our full redemption from the law of sin and death, and we are sealed until the day of redemption. And Jesus said, “I have lost none that Father gave me, save the son of perdition that the scripture may be fulfilled.” Jesus is not going to lose you. That is why it’s so important to look at Him, and not yourself.

Now some people might think that is preaching “easy believism.” But we are not preaching antinomianism. We are not preaching that God is pleased by sin. But we are preaching that when you are in Christ, and you make a slip, or you have a struggle, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is the gospel. And the gospel is the power of God to save souls. That is what Paul told us in chapter 1. The gospel is the power to save souls. Not mysteries, not signs and wonders and miracles, but the simple gospel—that is the power of God. And I think that is why we have had such a great impact here. We are actually using the power of God, and we have reached so very many people. And I thank God for that. And those who make fun of us, just preaching the gospel, we know the Bible says the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that are perishing. So let them perish in the mysteries. Let them perish in their signs and wonders. But to us who are being saved, we love the gospel, and we see it as the true power of God for saving souls and changing lives.

As we close today, let me just call out all our friends around the world. There are three groups in South America who have heard the truth we have found and been speaking with me in the last few weeks; please pray for them. Their ministers have all come the way we have, and most of their congregations. There is also much movement going on among our friends in Africa. Pray for the saints in South Africa. And also pray especially for the brothers and sisters in Rwanda. I corresponded with one of the brothers from Poland last week too; pray for them there. The war is not very far from where they live. And all the other ones who have reached out over the past week, I greet you all in Jesus’ name.

And again, I especially greet all my friends at Faith Assembly. I appreciate all those who have been working with me. Keep up the good fight. And as I have said to you all before, it’s not always possible to escape Babylon. So if you have to live in Babylon, be a Daniel, be an Esther, be an Ezekiel. And we are praying for you. It’s not where we worship God that matters. What matters is that we worship in spirit and truth. And you can worship in spirit and truth, even if you have to do it from Babylon.

The places we have come from, they are in freefall today, many of them in total decline to the point of near collapse. And if you are there listening, this is not the great falling away, and this is not some prelude to you going on to some great thing. What is happening is the sane people are leaving. The people who have the Spirit of God are waking up. And what is left is becoming increasingly radical and increasingly crazy. And the longer this goes on, the more who stay behind are at great risk. What are you going to do when the seven thunders tell you to drink the Kool-Aid? Because when it gets to that, it’s going to be too late. And that is the trajectory many of these groups are on. Very dangerous and deadly things are happening.

I thank God for the thousands of people we have been able to help at this point, to be encouraged and to escape and move on. But I personally won’t be doing this forever, just as long as the Lord continues to lead me to do it. So I pray for you all, and to all the people listening who are still in the places we come from, God loves you, and there is hope in Jesus. And you don’t need William Branham, or even the church you are sitting in, to go to heaven or to have the very best of what God has to offer.

As I wrap this up, let me just wish everyone a good day in the Lord. Stay warm. I know this is a short little message, but I am glad I had the opportunity to share this with you. You can put it right with the last message.

God bless you all. Let me close in prayer.