COMPLETE CESSATION IN THE GOSPEL

 

Romans 8:1-11

 

Paul begins this chapter with a promise that surpasses all the frustration and pain in what we go through in the flesh. Paul just got done pouring out his heart to ongoing battle that he faces as a man of God in the flesh in his sanctification. He ended the chapter with that wonderful victory promise, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (7:25) And now he reminds us of why we can boldly say “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 7:25

 

“There is therefore no condemnation for those who

are in Christ Jesus.” (v1)

 

This is a reference to the reality of our justification. “Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” Rom 8:33-34

There is no condemnation for whom?

 

For those who are truly born again, through grace of the gospel. And for God’s elect as Paul said in chapter eight there is no condemnation. This word condemnation appears only in the book of Romans here in (v1) and it is seen in Rom 5:16, 18. This word’s primary focus is on what the verdict demands. Not the just the penalty, but the requirement the penalty demands as Paul said, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord “ Rom 6:23 Condemnation….. “The act of condemning; the judicial act of declaring one guilty, and dooming him to punishment, a damnatory sentence” The exact warning that Jesus spoke of often to the religious people as he explained to his disciples what the end brings. “the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matt 24:50-51

 

Paul says “This condemnation is never coming to the true child of God.” In other words you could phrase this text this way, “There is therefore no damnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” God condemns sin in the flesh for the requirement of the law is fulfilled in us. Our union with Christ secures the believers justification before a holy God. We need to understand this deliverance from God’s condemnation doesn’t mean deliverance from Divine discipline though. Prime example of this is “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” Heb 12:5-8

 

The word “No” is a forceful negative adverb of time, and it carries the idea of complete cessation. In Matthew’s gospel we read about this complete cessation in forgiveness after Jesus explained to His disciples how you address sin the camp. Matt 18:23-27. And in this example Jesus uses a story of a king (Father) and his servants (sinners in desperate need of grace) because they have an inconceivable amount of debt owing. In this encounter Jesus pictures God’s gracious and total forgiveness towards the debt of the sinner. “No condemnation or complete cessation” In John’s epistle we read that God imputes and imparts His perfect righteousness completely. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. To have “no condemnation” means to be found “innocent” of the accusation, to have no sentence inflicted and no guilty verdict found.

 

This truth of God’s perfecting grace is not based on anything

we do or bring to the table.

 

According to the Scriptures we are dead, walking zombies in desperate need of His saving grace.

 “death spread to all men” Rom 5:12

 

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins” Eph 2:1

 

By the grace of God, believers in Jesus Christ will not face the condemnation of God. John said, “We know that we have passed out of death into life,” 1 John 3:17. Paul affirms this truth reality in (v2-v3). The Holy Spirit has set us free from the penalty of sin and death through Jesus Christ. This word “law” here is little confusing, because the law can refer to principle and moral standards by which God judges us. Here the first use of the word “law” refers to principle and the second use of this word refers to moral standards. The principle of life in Christ is what makes, and sets us, free from the principle of sin and death. (v2). In (v3a) Paul is speaking of the impotency of the moral law. The law does not save because it cannot save, which is what Paul is laboring throughout this letter. The freedom that Christ gives is complete and permanent deliverance from sins power and penalty.

 

This gives us the ability to obey God in the right

way through Holy Spirit.

 

The Spirit is the one who transforms you into the likeness of Christ and frees you all condemnation of God’s holy wrath. The Holy Spirit does what the law could not give. And that is life! The Holy Spirit is the one who bestows and energizes spiritual life in the person through the gospel confession. The Spirit is the only one who bring spiritual life into a spiritually dead person. We know this is true as we read previously in Paul’s honest and candid confession of the spiritual battle he faces each day. And God purposed all this with His perfect plan of redemption that was set in motion in His Son. so that “no condemnation” would become the believers living reality and joy. (3b-v4) And Paul contrasts or compares the polar opposites of those who are under His grace (the spirit) and the gospel to those who are not (the flesh). The flesh is unredeemed humanness.

 

The Flesh Is Described This Way…..

They focus on their own sinful ways (v5) The unregenerate man or woman, are only focused on one thing and that is self. We need to ask ourselves is where our “mind set” towards is.

 

What is the focus of our life? 

What do you think about all the time?

Are we preoccupied with goals and ambitions and desires and appetites of this world?

Where is your heart pointing to?

This fallen world is so consumed with now, tomorrow and what’s going on around us in the moment. And they miss the big picture! Which is? Where they’re going to be in a hundred years from now. R C Sproul said, “If our minds are set on the things of the flesh, then one hundred years from now we will be in perdition, but if our minds are concerned about the things of God…the Spirit of God, the truth of God, the sweetness of God…then one hundred years from now we will be enjoying the brightness of God’s glory without interruption. It’s easy to fix our minds on the things of this world so that we go through our lives missing the things of eternity.”

Where is your focus? And though the rain falls on the just, and the unjust. Where we “set of our minds on” will determine not only eternity, but the equality of life now.

 

They are hostile towards God. (v7) Because sinful man and woman set their hearts of the things of the flesh, they become hostile, and at war with God. According to Paul the unregenerate person in this war is, “storing up wrath” on the day of judgement. Rom 2:5. God abhors the “carnal minded sinner” and they are on the path of death according to Paul “bears fruit for death. “ Rom 7:5. They hate God’s law and do not want to be subject to the law of God. First of all! They do not have the ability to keep God’s standards. Second! They do not have the attitude to submit to God’s law because they cannot please God apart from the Spirit. As the world gets darker and darker in moral failure; the more mankind will be at war with Him.

 

They will never inherit the Kingdom of God. (v8) This self-seeking and personal pleasure only leads to destruction. It produces nothing for the Kingdom that is to come. No matter how good a person thinks they are in this life, they can never please God. Our good deeds are like “filthy rages” ….now this doesn’t mean we don’t do good deeds, but our deeds will never please God apart from the Holy Spirit. What Paul is saying here is this “You cannot do anything to please God.” Those who are not born-again can do nothing to please God, so long as we are in the flesh. The only response the flesh produces is anger and displeasure to a holy God. “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will sharpen his sword; He has bent and readied His bow; He has prepared for Him his deadly weapons, making His arrows fiery shafts.” Psalm 7:11-13. Understand there is “no condemnation” for those who are what? For those who do not walk according to the flesh.

 

They wait final judgement because they don’t possess the Spirit. (v9) If you are not indwelt with the Holy Spirit, if you have not been born again, you do not belong to Christ. As the Apostle John wrote, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Rev 20:11-15

The Spirit-Filled Life Is Described This Way…..

 

The believer sets their sights on things above. (v5) In the new birth the child of God sets their minds on the desires of the Spirit. I have new hopes, desires, and passions that don’t look for fulfillment in this world system. Deaths, disease, famine, persecution, protest, fighting in this life; have no eternal value or hold over my life…. despite the climate we live in today. We do not walk, live, breathe in fear, because our sights are focused heavenward and what the future holds for those in Christ.

 

The believer has eternal life and peace, which produces a joy beyond human comprehension. (v6-v8) It’s impossible to have a mind set on the Spirit which produces life and peace…..and yet remain dead to the things of God. We have a peace this world cannot steal from us. We will/may… feel pain, sorrow, brokenness, disease and death; but what we endure in this season has no impact on my joy in the Lord. As Paul said, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” 2 Thess 3:16 An unbeliever may have deep concern about not living up to a religious standard and morals and they will try to achieve them, but fail. Why? This struggle is purely on a human level; because it’s a struggle not generated by the love of God….but of self. For the believer, there is a peace though we struggle in the flesh as Paul illustrated from his own personal life in Romans 7.

 

A true Christian will battle with the flesh because the flesh

only knows one thing…. and that is sin.

 

As John MacArthur said, “A believer’s flesh is not redeemed when we trust in Christ. If that were so, all Christians would immediately become perfect when they are saved, which even apart from the testimony of Scripture is obviously not true. The sinful remnant of the unredeemed humanness will not fall away until the Christian goes to be with the Lord.”

 

The believer is dead to sin in the body, but life in the Spirit. (v9-v11) There is an “Aweful” which is an “awe-inspiring” connection between the presence of the Holy Spirit in a life, and the manifestation of the Spirit in one’s life. The inhabitation of the Spirit is a distinguishing character of a regenerate man….its only thing that separates him or her from their previous position and state of being. And it’s this same Spirit that raised Jesus from the tomb will do the same for the Christian. “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” 2 Cor 4:13-14. The Spirit’s possession of the child of God is critical factor. The Spirit’s presence determines whether a person is a true believer. As Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:5-8

The Holy Spirit regenerates the human spirit, Holy Spirit will change the heart of stone into a heart of flesh, and He will raise these dead bones in the last day.

 

See! What Paul Is Saying About The Polar Opposites Of The Flesh And Spirit Is….

 

The flesh is weak in ability to practice righteousness. “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Mark 14:38

 

The flesh serves the law of sin which wars against the law of the mind (the desire to obey God’s law). “…but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” Rom 7:25

 

The flesh has the inability to discern spiritual truth. “I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations.” Rom 6:19

 

The flesh only sows corruption. “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Gal 6:8

 

The flesh exposes the charlatans and false professing. “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,” 2 Peter 2:9-10

 

The flesh represents the unregenerate person/people. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,…” Rom 8:5

 

The flesh is described as the body of death…..Rom 7:24

The flesh is described as the body of sin…… Rom 6:6

The flesh is described as a mortal body….. Rom 6:12

 

The flesh is described as carnality. “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.” 1 Cor 3:1

 

The flesh cannot sanctify. “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Gal 3:3

See! The Spirit As Paul Describes It In This Passage Is A Habitual Way Of Life For Those In Christ.

 

The Spirit -filled life has no confidence in the flesh at all. “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh… “

Phil 3:3

 

The Spirit-filled life has been crucified in Christ. “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Gal 5:24

 

The Spirit-filled life hungers after righteousness. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matt 5:6

 

The Spirit-filled life has access to God by Christ. “This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.” Eph 3:11-12

 

The Spirit-filled life is a part of the church. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,” Heb 12:22-23

 

The Spirit-filled life is to suffer for Christ. “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,” Phil 1:29

 

The Spirit-filled life is secure during public calamities. “In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.” Job 5:20

 

The Spirit-filled life is not an addition, but a statement of the fact that applies to the believer. Paul says “who walk” describes this as habitual way of life or a bent of life, a lifestyle. We see this exemplified in Luke’s gospel. “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah …And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” Luke 1:5-6

This daily walk produces fruit

of spiritual life.

The habitual walk is a zealous for good works.

The habitual walk is to exemplify Christ

The habitual walk is to be at peace with all people.

The habitual walk is not to busybodies but doing the work of the ministry.

There is No Condemnation for the child of God who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. This is our guarantee or seal for Heaven…the life we know live is manifested by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the grave is the same Spirit that indwells the child of God. Law brings death and holy damnation, but the Spirit brings life, submission and eternal joy in the gospel. As Paul said, “….not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Cor 3:6. We know that being converted doesn’t exempt or end the temptation or falling into momentary lapses of disobedience.

 

But this does mean there is…. no condemnation for those who are in Christ, and we are safe in Him, if you are! A child of the King. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the child of God keeps: seeking, chasing, having our eyes fixed on Him alone. As Paul said, “Set your minds on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Col 3:2-3