Untouchable
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We will prove that there is no way possible for a believer to be condemned by God the Father. This means we are eternally secure. There truly is nothing that can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
No Judgment
No Judgment
condemnation = found a guilty and sentenced
Therefore is a powerful word pointing us backward to the previous discussion which has just concluded.
It is essential for us to understand WHY there is no condemnation for the believer. Why are we not held accountable and punished for our sins.
The previous conversation went like this:
Therefore:
Therefore:
Because a war rages
Because a war rages
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Our minds are regenerated
Our minds are regenerated
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
This takes place at the moment of salvation. We are “born again” and made new creatures according to 2 Cor 5:17.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Our flesh remains
Our flesh remains
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Because Jesus bought us
Because Jesus bought us
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Now two natures are at war within me, but Christ has purchased my soul.
If it were not for Romans 8, then I would be stuck forever in a tug-of-war between good and evil. Life would look much like what is seen in movies when a character is deciding what to do and has an angel on one shoulder, but a devil on the other.
Many people believe this is how morality works for the Christian, but that could not be farther from the truth!
God did not leave us with a regenerated mind and a corrupt sin nature by ourselves!
Let’s see what it is that Jesus’ sacrifice has bought us!
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Being in Christ
Being in Christ
78 times the phrase “in Christ” is used. In fact, we already referenced 2 Cor 5:17, which uses the phrase, “In Christ.”
The meaning of this phrase is multifaceted, but simply put for today. We were not saved to operate on our own. We were saved with the full intention of us being “in Christ,” both in theory and in practice.
We receive all the blessings of salvation “in Christ.”
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Our sins are washed away “in Christ.”
13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
When we were made new creatures, we were made “in Christ.”
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Our home in Heaven is tied up “in Christ.”
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
We are not independent as believers, we are in Christ and we are to act like it!
Regardless of how we act, though, we are “in Christ.”
We receive the help of the Holy Spirit
We receive the help of the Holy Spirit
Now comes the key to everything. How is it that we can live heaven-filled lives on earth when we have a sin nature that constantly begs us to transgress God’s law?
The Holy Spirit!
The last phrase, “Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” is not a CONDITION for salvation. It is a RESULT of salvation!
It is not there for us to question whether we are in the spirit or in the flesh! It is there to assure us that if we are “in Christ” then we walk after the Spirit! Remember, we have access to all the blessings of God “in Christ.”
How do we know it’s a result?
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Now when we look to fight the battle of Romans 7, the flesh against the mind. It is no longer a one-on-one struggle. It is a two-on-one in our favor! It is now the flesh against the Spirit! And one of our two is all-powerful!
But let me remind you, if you do not choose to fight the battle of the mind, you deny the opportunity for the Spirit to help you.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
No Law, but what?
No Law, but what?
Lawlessness?
Lawlessness?
In America, we seem to almost worship freedom at times. Ironically, complete freedom leaves nothing but lawlessness. Man must be governed by something.
15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
What was the purpose of the law?
What was the purpose of the law?
19 Now we know that what things soever 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.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
What could the law not accomplish?
What could the law not accomplish?
Anything to rectify the situation with sin.
The law is great at pointing out offenses and guilt, but it will forever hold the one who violates it guilty. It can only mete out appropriate punishment and after the punishment is fulfilled, it can hold the penalty completed. But the sin remains. It’s still on your record.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Does grace make the us free from any law?
Does grace make the us free from any law?
NO! The whole point is for us to become RIGHTEOUS before God, not more sinful.
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
How is it that the righteousness which God expects could actually be lived out by the believer?
Only through the Holy Spirit!
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Fleshly living does not please God. It is the opposite of the life of faith.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The fleshly believer lives a life that ignores the God He claims to trust in. The faith-filled believer lives out that faith in a righteous God by fulfilling the righteousness which is in the law BY FAITH through the Holy Spirit.