There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
You will be hard pressed to find a string of words anywhere that forms a statement more provocative or inspiring than the first 13 words of this verse.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
13 Words that contain, within its context, both the greatest hope for some and the most severe warning for others.
1. Presently Atoned
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1
Language is the framework by which we obtain knowledge. Without language it is difficult to KNOW anything. Language provides for us the building blocksof understanding and wisdom;
- language is emotional,
- language is logical,
- language binds thought and expresses ideas.
Words through language is what is used to seal contracts,
- instruct direction,
- construct buildings and monuments,
- navigate our oceans
- and send men to the moon.
Good use of Language can;
- unite a nation,
- can inspire exploits,
- can Govern a people,
- can lead to war
- and bring about peace.
Language can condemn and language can liberate, both a man and a nation.
Incredibly it is two of the smallest words in the English language, comprising a total of only three letters, these words can commit a man and a woman to a marriage that nothing but death parts them.
But the words “I do” have more meaning than just the initial phase of a commitment, they also have a tense.
And so long as that commitment is honored that tense will always bein the present!
I know, for my life, that if the vows I exchanged with my wife almost 28 years ago were re-presented to me today the answer would still remain in the present tense.
In fact, we see the importance of the tenses throughout the scriptures,
Turn in your Bibles to Mark 12:18-27.
This is a fascinating use of the defense of an entire doctrine based on nothing more than the tense of a single verb.
In fact, it is also a true example of how you are to defend the teaching of error by the misuse of words, and the method is given us by none other than the Word himself.
I can’t summarize the account better than simply reading it.
18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, 19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. 21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. 22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. 23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither
Did you catch that? Jesus defended the entire doctrine of the resurrection to men who have spent their entire educated lives rejecting its validity and did so using nothing other than the present tenseof the verb ‘I AM’.
Jesus made no other argumentand expected the answer to be very simply recognized.
Notice there was no debate about ‘interpretation’either! It’s astounding how often that happens amongst people today. Clearly that is a false presumption, mankind will still be held perfectly accountable to the natural use of words, whether that be “Thou Shalt Not Steal” or “I do”.
Beloved watch carefully for the tenses as God has used them in scripture, they are vital for our understanding and encouragement.
The passage before us now also has its ultimate value to us by confirming that those IN CHRIST are PRESENTLY ATONED.
There istherefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
It does not say thereWAS no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, nothing here indicates, as some would think, ‘that it is only when we first repent of our sin and believe the gospel that we are saved, but from that point on we need to do it all on our own’. No, the text we are looking at today makes clear that AS it is written in the present tense, WE ARE PRESENTLY ATONED,
- presently redeemed,
- presently justified,
- presently Children of God and joint heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17)
There istherefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
There is no indication anywhere that this condition may change, as Paul uses the phrase emphatically, There istherefore nowno condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Remember the context of what preceded in chapter 7, Paul admits to an internal battle with sin and the new nature and answers his own plea; “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord…”
There IS therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
It stands to reason that if Jesus Christ is the one who shall deliver me, there can be no condemnation against me by him.
Isaiah said; “Behold, the Lord Godwill help me; Who ishe thatshall condemn me?”(Isa 50:9)
Verse 31 of this chapter in Romans
“What shall we then say to these things? If God befor us, who can beagainst us?”
- Brethren, it was in the present tense two thousand years ago when it was first
written,
- it was certainly in the present tense when the Lord savedyou,
- it remains in the present tense for you today;
- and will continue in the present tense when we are in eternity.
Those in Christ are PRESENTLY ATONED and It is as present as the “I Am” of the Old Testament that saved us;
There istherefore nowno condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
2. Perfectly Reckoned
There isthereforenow no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Here we find the incredible value of a conjunction again. We did an entire sermon on this one word when it was located at the beginning of Romans 5. We’ll just do this one point on it for this message.
But just like our understanding from Romans Chapter five, we note again that the conjunction “therefore”provides for us a totaling, or a reckoningof all that was written before, we are PERFECTLY RECKONED.
The book of Romans is singularly the most profound and concise treaty on the entire condition of the natural man right through to his salvation and what manner he should live.
Have an understanding of the book of Romans and you will have an understanding of the entire Gospel in the fullest sense. Believe Romans, and you will be equipped and able to share the Gospel of truth far and wide.
The Romans Road
1:17, 1:18, 1:19, 1:20, 1:21, 1:22, 3:23, 3:12, 5:12, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9-10, 10:11-13, 5:1, 8:1, 8:38-39, 10:17.
These help with questions and objections such as;
- I Don’t believe in God
- Where is the evidence for God?
- God would not send anyone to hell.
- I believe God is the Universe.
- Science has disproved God
- Im a good person, do I really need salvation?
- Im not a bad person
- Even, I’m too bad to be saved, is there hope?
- How can I be saved
- Will God accept me
- What should I do now
These passages in Romans are well worth memorising, don’t even shy away from memorising the entire letter. Many people have done it.
- If you have recognized yourself as the “without excuse” sinner of Romans chapter one;
- If you have recognized that after your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath against the day of wrath and the righteous judgment of Godin Romans chapter two;
- If Romans Chapter threehas completely left you personally undone with its statement that “There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
- And just until were you then reckoned righteous through the same faith of Abraham, believing the promises of God in Romans chapter four
- And if you can count yourself as Therefore being justified by faith so that you know you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ asdescribed in Romans chapter five
- Being now baptized into the death of Christ and raised in newness of life in Romans chapter six
- and ARE finally recognized to be under the governance of a new law in Romans chapter seven;
THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION IS THAT;
There isTHEREFOREnow no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
You are PERFECTLY RECKONED
Beloved that is the SUM total that demonstratesyou are Perfectly Reckoned, and wonderfully reconciled to God, all because of your trust that Jesus diedfor the penalty due for your sinful life.
- Did you notice that none of the items reckoned in the chapters that went before included how good you are?
- Did you notice it made no mention of how often you went to church,
- took communion,
- said a rosary,
- kissed the foot of another sinner
- knocked on 144,000 doors
- stopped working on the Lords day
- Gave to charity
- Were a better person than someone else
The only reason YOU are not condemned is because you Believed that Jesus is the Son of God who paid the price your sin cost.
That is the sum total of why There isTHEREFOREnow no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
The real question for you now is, How does that affect your life?
How does knowing that you will rejoice with a multitude of people after your death in a place that “… as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor 2:9)
- What sins of others are you willing to overlook?
- Knowing you are so freely forgiven, what offences of friendsor family are you willing to forgive?
- Being so wonderfully reconciled, the work being done even while you were an enemy, what relationship are you willing to reconcile?
Beloved, if you have the spirit of God in you and you know that heaven is your inheritance, there should be an astounding change within your lifeand it should be evident to all!
If you have believed the Gospel, There isthereforenow no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Wonderfully Redeemed
There istherefore now no condemnationto them which are in Christ Jesus.
We are free from sin now and we will be sin-freein eternity, Jesus Christ propitiated the judgment that was against us. (With His stripes, we were healed)
It is known as “The Substitutionary Atonement” in theological terms, it is what was done in place of ourselves to redeem our debt to God.
What we could never hope to do, Jesus did for the entire world. And to those that believe,There istherefore now no condemnation.
NO CONDEMNATION EVER.
I do not want any person to think that this redemptionwas without cost.
Simply because those who believe have received it freely, it does not follow that there was therefore no cost, there is no such thing as free grace, there is always a costsomewhere.
You can’t borrow money and go broke and think that somehow, just because you are not paying the debt, someone else is not! Someone always picks up the bill.
If one of my clients decides to liquidate their company owing me thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, just because our bankruptcy laws let him off, it does not mean that the debt vanishes into thin air; I suffer the cost, even though he did not.
There is a growing belief among some fools and government entities and Ecomomists that you can print currency without any cost to anyone. Sadly, only those who first receive the legal counterfeit currency benefit, everyone else suffers the inflation tax. In times gone by, Counterfeiting currency was actually punishable by death, because it was well understood the damage it makes in a civilisation.
Just because we are the beneficiaries of Grace does not mean it was without cost.
Jesus
- suffered the wrath of God,
- was separated from the father,
- endured the cross
- and became a ransom for the sins of the world through the shedding of his blood for the remission of sins. And yet we can’t even begin to comprehend the price he paid to do so.
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, condescended to become a man to die the death of a man and suffer the penalty of man, only to remain a man for all eternity.
Yet according to scripture, he still bares the marks of his death. (Luke 20:26-27)
Turn to Isa 53:5 . You need to see this. It was written about 700 years before the birth of Christ. The Bible says that he waswounded for our transgressions, He wasbruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace wasupon him; And with his stripes we are healed.(Isa 53:5)
Guys, just as the lifting of a debt is borne by the onewho extended the credit, so too is the forgiveness of your sin borne by the one who extended YOU life!
And just as a debtor needs toappeal to have hisdebt removed, so too does the sinner need to appeal to have hissin forgiven.
How I pray you hear the plea of God for your souls. So soon, in the first verse of this passage you are hearing the Gospel, how long will you wait before you respond?
What will it take to drive you to your knees before God and to seek his forgiveness through Christ?
Will it be only when you have had enough of your life?
Why wait till then?
You might never have enough of your lifebut choose to build greater barns to fill the empty fruit of it. What will that do for you when God says “Thoufool, this nightthy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”Luke 12:20
This promise given in the first half of this first verse is to the ultimate releif of some, any some, all somewho believe the Gospel will KNOW this reliefand will be wonderfully redeemed.
Please, you may never again hear the Gospel, it was a troubling 17 yearsfrom when I first heard it till I heard it again and responded.
You must listen to this message as ifit is the last time youwill ever hear such a thing again, please BELIEVE THE GOSPEL.
It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgement (Heb 9:27) That is the condemnation some will never experience.
Self-Willed Discrimination;
There istherefore now no condemnationto themwhich are in Christ Jesus.
TO THEM, ONLY TO THEM,only to those which are in Christ Jesus.
This reliefDISCRIMINATES all other people; if you are not one of THEM, you remain in your sins NOW, your debt remains heavy upon you NOW, you are condemned already!
The passage that says There istherefore now no condemnation does not NOW apply to you if you are not one of THEM which are in Christ Jesus, because it only applies to themwhich are in Christ Jesus NOW.
Those who are not in Christ Jesus NOW remain in their sins and are condemned already as one held in remand, you only await the judgment, but your condemnation is NOW pending its realization.
Turn to John 3:17
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 Andthis is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
The text discriminates.
Beloved, my work here as a preacher is to bring out to the fullest possible way all the characteristics and natural consequences of a given passage. To bring out to the surface all its implications and that which is logically consistent both with the passage and with the Bible as a whole.
This verse is Ultimate in its Discrimination, it separates the sheep from the goats, that wheat from the chaff, the holy from the profane, the justified from the condemned.
There istherefore now no condemnationto themwhich are in Christ Jesus.
It is ONLYthose NOW have chosen to believe Christ died for them that are free from any condemnation, ONLY “THEM” are today FREE. Those here who insist on retaining their sin, remain condemned.
Guys, there are no FENCE SITTERS in eternity.
For far too many, all hope will vanish away at the very moment of death. This is such a grief to me.
This text ONLY applies to THEM which are in Christ JesusNOW.
Sadly, the Devil has successfully deluded the world into thinking that the Gospel is pluralistic and not particular.He has convinced everyone from the Secular to the religious that everyone will go to heaven eventually.
If that is true, why did Christ need to die?
Second Consideration on this point
This discrimination is voluntary.
There is a consideration that there will be no person in hell because of their sin, they will be there because they rejected the provision God made for their sin.
A point to think on; Why did so many people die during the flood of Noah?
They died because they didn’t get on the boat!
It’s true that the size of the boat was limited and this analogy can only go so far, but there was enough room on the ark for many, many more people. Why were no more than eight lives saved? Because, though Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Pet 2:5) for the time the Ark was a preparing (1 Pet 3:20), none would hear.
The discrimination is ultimately voluntary.
A mother does all her work to prepare all the nutrition needed for the family. The table is set, the food is placed and yet it is still possible for a person to die of hunger. It is not a question of provision, it is a question of the will.
Will you believe Jesus died for you?
The text discriminates, There is therefore now no condemnation ONLYTO THEMwhich are in Christ Jesus.
12.Inherited Union;
The text we are looking at is speaking of a Union
There istherefore now no condemnation to them which arein Christ Jesus. IN Christ Jesus!
Not only did Christ pay the penalty and die for our sins according to the scriptures, not only are we to believe in him for salvation and not only is there no other name by which we can be saved, but in some way we come into a union with him; There istherefore now no condemnation to them which arein Christ Jesus
Scripture here indicates that, through our faith we share in all the benefits of Christ Jesus by having a union IN him.
Perhaps the most precise explanation of this mysterious Union is found in 1 Corinthians 15:20,
From verses 12 to 19 we have scripture explaining the logical conclusion respect ting the doubt that surrounds the Resurrection of Christ, its what leads us to the passage in verse 20.
Take a quick look with me from verse 12 so we have the context;
Paul asks
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, thenisour preaching vain, and your faithisalso vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faithisvain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
Naturally if it is true that if the resurrection of the dead is not possible and therefore untrue, it makes sense that Christ himself must not have been raised, if that is true then our preaching of the Gospel is completely pointless.
The natural conclusion then is that we, together with the world are still dead in our sins.
Paul gives no other option if the resurrection itself is untrue.
“ye are yet in your sins” there is therefore NO HOPE, all people remain condemned to face the Judgement of God who knows even the evil of the thoughts of our minds, he knows our motivations and our lusts not only our doings. He therefore concludes in verse 19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
Now he gives both clarity and understanding to the passage and great assistance to our own consideration of what it is to be “in Christ Jesus”
1 Cor 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, andbecome the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man camedeath, by man camealso the resurrection of the dead.22 For as in Adamall die, even so in Christshall all be made alive.
Did you get that link?
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
All the world were in the loins of Adam at the fall of man. Every single person alive today find ourselves decedents of one single ancestor, Adam. NOT LUCY, Adam!
Amazing how defective the uncritical minds of men are today, they have no problem believing that we are all descendants from the remains of a disjointed ape Lucy, AKA Australopithecus afarensis,but to be descendants from Adam and Eve, “impossible”, myth, fairy tale, an ancient legend.
Somehow to piece fragments of bones found strewn across a hillside in Ethiopia in the 1970’s, claim they come from the same creature, and then recreate the other 60% of it from imagination and teach with confidence that ‘she’ is the proto-matriarch from which all upright people descend, is science.
But the Biblical account is made up!
Yet it is only the Biblical account that explains the fallen, naturally immoral propensity of mankind. ONLY the Biblical account explains perfectly the problems and the evils of this world.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Man was “in Adam” at the fall.
BUT those who see their sin, know their sin, are condemned by their sin and fear God and the judgment looming over their sin, will reach with urgency for Christ,whom God hathmade him to be sin for us…that we might be made the righteousness of God in him(2 Cor 5:21).
These are those who will be found to be “In Christ” To see how much those who have truly trusted in Christ are to be considered “In Christ” just as all fallen man where “in Adam” consider a few more scriptures.
The Marriage Covenant is explained by our Union in Christ, Ephesians 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
The sinful nature of Sexual sin in a Christian is explained through our Union In Christ, 1 Corinthians 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make themthe members of an harlot? God forbid.
Our new nature is explained by our Union In Christ, Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
And our inheritance is identified by our Union In Christ, Romans 8:17 tells us that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ
This is the ultimate union
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
Close
It is impossible for me to over emphasize the importance of this Gospel. This first half of only the first verse in Chapter 8 has two messages to tell, one is that of exceeding great Joy to them who are in Christ, the other message is one of great foreboding to those not found in Christ today.
Charles Spurgeon sums it up well saying;
As“there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,” so we may solemnly say, “There is therefore now a most weighty condemnation on you who are not in Christ Jesus”
Those of you who have been born again and are in Christ, what wonderful relief can you now enjoy?
Can you see how the Bible confirms with all clarity that a person, born again and forgiven, can know today with absolute certainty that they will be in heaven when they die?
There istherefore now no condemnation to them which arein Christ Jesus
None, no condemnation!
What an incredible relief, what an incredible joy.
How do you live now?
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