There Is No Condemnation...

Romans 8:
1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

The law of sin and death Paul speaks of here is not "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Rather, it is the overriding compulsion people have to commit sin. Let's look at that in context.

Romans 7:
20. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
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.
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.
8: 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

That law of sin and death is the lust your flesh has to commit sin. The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus is the desire your born again spirit has to commit righteousness.

But what I want to look at is that there is no condemnation for Christians who do not walk after the flesh. So many believers today think that there is no condemnation EVEN IF they walk in the lust of the flesh. They are so wrong.

They lie, steal, commit adultery, violence, and hatred without the slightest twinge of conscience. All this, because they believe that because they are born again, sin has no consequence to them.
There is a condemnation waiting for Christians who do such things. Turning God's grace into lasciviousness leads to denying Jesus. And denying Christ leads to eternal damnation, born again, or not.

Jude 1:
4. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

Lasciviousness is simply unbridled lust. If you follow after lust, and the Lord deals with you about crucifying it, but you ignore him, you will eventually deny him to follow after your lust. He won't deal with you about it any more because you will no longer be his child.

Jude calls them "twice dead." That means they died spiritually, were born again, then died again.

Jude 1:
12. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

Freedom from condemnation only comes when one does not walk after the lust of the flesh. God's merciful gracious salvation is not so you can indulge in sin. It is so that you can become free of it. Holy. Acceptable to God.

All of us have sin. All of us have bodies, and our bodies are the root of sin (Romans 7:18). It isn't the presence of sin that is the problem, it is what we do with it. To you resist it with your faith, crucifying it on the Cross of Christ? Or do you yield to it, obeying its every whim and fantasy?

If you can commit sin without the Holy Spirit convicting your heart, you are in a very dangerous place.

If you can speak evil of others, and not be corrected by righteousness, you need some alone time with Jesus. Really? How about your president? Or your last president? Your in-laws? Your spouse? Neighbor? Boss?

God is not interested so much in having people who can sing like angels. He has angels that do that. He desires holiness in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6, Luke 11:39).

Following after the control of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus will set you free from the control of sin and death. Following after the whims and passions of the Holy Ghost can take a little practice, but the rewards are eternal. We have spent most of our lives learning to obey the whims of the flesh. As believers, we need to learn to follow the whims of Christ's spirit within us. To follow the dictates of Christ's love within us.

When Christ's love is perfected in us, there is no condemnation, for, as John said, perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Copyright © 2009 Burley Ward. All rights reserved