We just heard word this morning that Lawson Shara used to be here with us, was rushed to the hospital, and they don't know exactly the nature of his ailment. Do you know most about those of us who know Lawson? Let's pray for them, but they'll not be serious. Shall we turn in our Bibles to Romans chapter eight, please? Romans chapter eight. And verse one. Romans eight and verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us or me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, you'll notice that. It doesn't say that God sending his own Son in the flesh or like sinful flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now we've come to the third section of Romans. In fact, it began in chapter six, which we'll be concluding tonight. We have the, therefore, over in chapter two and one, that man is without excuse, man's inexcusability before God. All the evidence has been brought into court. Every man and woman, boy and girl, has been tried, and the conclusion is, the verdict is, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and man is absolutely, without excuse, his mouth is shut, he stands silenced before the judge, ready to be sentenced. And the sentence is, man is guilty. He's under condemnation. And then in the next section we were noticing, especially in verse one of chapter five, concerning man's justification, being justified. He says that word again. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the guilty condemned man, without his excuses, Of course, he has to give up those excuses. When he gets saved, he hasn't any. He stands guilty before God. He casts himself upon the mercy of the court, and God in sovereign grace justifies him if he puts his faith in Christ. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That takes up the second section of Romans, chapters four and five. Now we get into this section. And this chapter opens, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's a wonderful thing. No condemnation. In the first section, man is guilty. He is condemned. But now there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. God has justified man. God has cleared him of all guilt. or an edification with guilt, and he stands before God now, claim of all blame, he is without condemnation. He is righteous before the law. Why? Because that condemnation that rested upon man was born by the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. You know the law tells us over in Second Corinthians three nine that Ten Commandments is the ministry of condemnation. So when a condemned sinner, a guilty sinner, flings to the Ten Commandments and thinks, if I keep the Ten Commandments I'll be saved, he'll come to the shocking discovery that instead of the Ten Commandments giving him hope and life, it condemns him. It aggravates his condition and shows them that he is condemned and his sin becomes exceedingly sinful, says the Apostle Paul. And so there's no hope for man to be saved under the Ten Commandments. The law, because the law tells us in second Corinthians three nine, that the law is the ministry of condemnation. But then you do read in verse eighteen of John three, He that believeth on the Son 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. Then in verse nineteen, and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world. But men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Now that's the strange thing is, that men should prefer they choose darkness rather than light. This is the condemnation, that light in the person of Jesus Christ, light has come into the world. A man drooping in the darkness of his own ignorance can have light, divine light, in Jesus Christ. But no, instead of having that light, He prefers the darkness, and the Bible tells us why, because his deeds are evil. And if you analyze every person who is not a Christian, you'll find there's something down in his heart that he would sooner have than Jesus Christ, otherwise he would be saved. God penetrates into the heart of the sinner. And in the final analysis, there is something in the human heart that is preventing that person from coming to Jesus Christ. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. And in John five, twenty-four, verily, verily, I say unto you, He that gareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, shall not He hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. And so for the Christian, the born-again one, there is no condemnation. Because Jesus Christ bore that judgment, that condemnation on the cross, that condemnation that was rightly mined, was placed upon Christ, and he bore it. in His own body on the tree. And that's why you read in this very same verse, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. We're now in Christ. The people outside the ark in Noah's day were condemned. And the condemnation of God in the form of the flood was descending upon them. But inside the ark, there was no condemnation. Everything was dry. And God was in the ark with Noah. You know, that's an amazing thing. When the ark was complete, you read this language. Come down, God said to Noah. Come down, and all nine house into the ark. God didn't say, go in, Noah. God says, come in. implying that God was in there, and he was. And therefore there was no condemnation, because the condemnation that God had brought upon that generation, the antediluvians, fell upon the people outside the ark. But there was no condemnation for them who were in the ark. There is therefore no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Had the ark gone down, God would have gone down with it, if I might use the expression, showing how safe Noah was. God was in the ark with him, and that's how safe the Christian is when he's in Christ. I am in Christ, and I say it federally yet with praise in my heart, it's absolutely impossible for a born-again Christian, and I happen to be one to go to hell, for Jesus Christ would have to go to. Because I am in him. I am in Christ. What is the word of God saying in John, fourteen, twenty? At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye are in me, and I am in you. Race my blessed Savior first. Take him from God's esteem. Through Jesus bears one spot of sin. Then tell me I am unclean. Nay, for he purged my guilt. His precious blood was shed. His death was for my ransom gift. And I am risen or delivered from the dead. How wonderful that is, to know you're so safe and you're so secure because you are in Christ Jesus. Your life is hid with Christ in God. You read in Colossians, and I think it's three and one or two. And so you find here there's no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. There is a quartet of lovely expressions you'll find in your Bible. especially over in Ephesians chapter two. You read about being without Christ. Then you read about being in Christ. Then you find you're for Christ. And then you're with Christ. And here we are in Christ. Over in Ephesians two, and I think it's verse twelve. He makes it very plain that we are aliens. The Gentiles are aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel. Strangers to the covenants of promise. Without hope and without God in the world. Now that's man's condition by nature. No Christ, no covenant relationship, and no promises, no divine promises, no hope and no God. That's sad, isn't it? Yet that's exactly how God sees every unconverted person. That was true of these Ephesians before they were saved until Paul took the gospel to them in chapter nineteen of Acts. No Christ, no covenant relationship, no divine promise, no hope and no God. But if you want to know how those Ephesians were converted, all you have to do is read on in chapter two of Ephesians. And you read this language, By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. They were saved by grace. They were taken out of their sin, and they were placed in Christ Jesus. That's what it says in verse thirteen. In Christ Jesus. Could you be more secure? Today we're in an age of insecurity. All of us know that. That is, those who are not Christians. Of course, the Christian, too, of course, is going to look at the world for its material values, and he wants to live for the material things of life. He's unstable also because he hardly knows how to plan because of the instability of the future. But the child of God doesn't have that instability when it comes to his destined future, the life beyond the grave. That's all safe and secure in Jesus Christ. Paul uses the same language over in Philippians three. He says that I may be found in him, found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, wicked of the law. but the righteousness which is of God in Christ, and be found in Him. To be found in Christ means you're accepted, for God accepted Christ. To be found in Christ simply means your mereness, for Jesus Christ sits with God's right hand. To be found in Christ means your security. You are in Jesus Christ. There's a lovely triad in your Bible. And it's this. It is finished. Christ said that on the cross. Therefore I am saved. He also says it is written. Therefore I am sure. And he says it is I. When he approached the disciples who were being tossed like a cock upon that rough sea, Jesus Christ appeared walking in the water. He said it is I. And when they came into the ship, they were satisfied because the waves were ironed out just like a cloth. The wrinkle cloth is ironed out by a hot iron. So the Son of God said, Peace be still. And there was a great calm. They were satisfied. Friend, let me ask you, are you safe? Are you sure? Are you satisfied? Are you safe in Christ? How do you know you are? How can you make sure of this? It is written. I know it because the Word of God declares it. And I am satisfied because he says, Lo, I am with you all the way even unto the end of the age. So Christ said, I am found in Christ not having my own righteousness, which is of the law. Having my own righteousness. I'd hate to face death with my righteousness. I'd hate to face certain experiences in life with my righteousness, my right-doings, my good deeds, but they wouldn't stand up. But when I have His righteousness, when I have Christ, then I can face sickness, I can face trouble, I can face death itself, because I'm in Christ, and I have His righteousness, and it's not depending upon me at all. It all depends upon Him. And that's what Paul says, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law. But I am found in Him. In Him, in sickness, in Him, in trouble, in Him when death comes, in Him when He comes again to take His own home, to be with Himself. in him at the judgment day, in Christ. How wonderful that is. That simply means there's no sickness, no trouble, or death can take a child of God out of that place of divine security in Christ Jesus. When you're in Christ, then what do you do? Why you live Christ? For me to live is Christ, says the Apostle. I have Christ in me. Therefore, I am going to live Christ. Live out the life that is within. Until that day, when he says, I shall be with Christ. How on them? First without Christ, then in Christ. Then I live for Christ. After I am saved. Until that day when I shall be with him. and like them forever. Let me ask you this morning, are you in Christ Jesus? That wonderful place of eternal security in Christ. And I don't know a more marvelous text than the one I've already quoted in John. And that day he says, ye shall know that I am in my Father. Here, this is wonderful. Christ is in God, and he says, you, referring to those who were saved, you're in me, and I am in you. You're in me as to your eternal security, as to your position, and he said, I am in you as to the source of strength and grace that you need from day to day. I am in you. That brings us to the next verse, verse two. And the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus have made me free from the law of sin and death. Now you'll notice there are two laws in this verse. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. One, hath made me free from the law of sin and death. That's the other. The law of sin and death is that old sinful nature that you still have after you're saved. Now, when God saves a person, he doesn't take the old sinful nature out of them and then leave them with one nature, the new life, the spiritual nature, I wish he would. Because if he did, I wouldn't have any more worries, I'd have no temptation. I would live a sinless life. If when God saved me and Christ came into my heart, the old nature would completely leave me, I wouldn't even get sick. I wouldn't even have a headache. Because the Bible says sin that worketh in you to bring forth truth unto death. And when a person is saved, he has two natures, and the Bible distinctly teaches them. He still has the old nature that he was born into this world with. But when he receives Christ, he has the new life, the new nature that's going to fit him for heaven. Your first nature, your first birth prepared you for this world, but you have to have a new life, a new nature to fit you for the next if you want to go to heaven. You've got to be a partaker of the divine nature. the very life of God which is found in Jesus Christ and that's why he says you must be born again. So the Christian has these two natures. That's why a child of God can think something or say something or even do something that's inconsistent for a Christian to do. Now it's not the life of Christ in him that does that. That's impossible. Christ in you the hope of glory. And that new life in Christ couldn't do those things. It's the old life. It's the old nature trying to exert itself. That's where the Christians have their trouble. In that old man as the Bible speaks of the old man, the old man, the old man. Like the fellow who was arrested and he claimed to be a Christian. And he went before the judge and the judge... asked him if he were guilty. It wasn't a very severe offense. And so the man said, well, Judge, it's just like this. He says, you know, I was born a sinner into the world, and he said, I had a fallen nature. And then he said, I found Christ one day. I got saved, and I got a new nature, a new life. I never had it before. This new life loves the Bible. I love to be Christian. I love to witness for the Lord, and I love to go and hear the word preach. And he said, I just became a new creature in Christ. So he said, I've got a new nature. Now, Judge, he says, it was the old nature that did that, not the new nature. The Judge says, I'm sorry, but we'll have to lock up both natures, the old and the new, for thirty days. So when a Christian sinned, the new life helps to suffer for it, does suffer for it. When a Christian says something or thinks something or does something he shouldn't do, then the new life is grieved. The spirit of God is grieved. That's when he's out of fellowship with the Lord and all he needs to do is to confess what he's done and God will forgive and his peace will be restored to him by the Lord. So the Christian has these two laws working. the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and of death. You know there are two laws operating in our world. There's the law of gravity and there's the law of aeronautics. For instance, look at that huge plane. I suppose some, especially used by the army, why they could likely carry enough weight, as not only their own weight, but a cargo, going up to thirty tons or more. And yet how can that thing run down that long runway and leave the ground and take up, take off up into the air? It's breaking the law of gravity. The law of gravity would keep it on the ground. But there's a stronger law than the law of gravity, and that's the law of aeronautics, that causes that huge plane to rise off the ground and take off into the air. And so the law of aeronautics overcomes the law of gravity. When that pilot wants to bring that plane down, he turns off the power, or if something happens to go wrong, and the power turns off, Then the law of gravity takes over, and the plane begins to come down. If it's an explosion, it comes down in a hurry. If he's bringing it down for a landing, he's gradually, more or less giving up his power of aeronautics, and submitting that huge plane to the law of gravity, he's coming down. Every Christian has those two laws. You've got the law, and that's in verse two, you have the law of sin and death in you. That's why you're earthbound. You're right here. And if you don't believe in such thing as the law of gravity, just go up in a six or ten or twelve story building and jump out and see how well it works. The law of gravity, and you'll come right down. And the Christian has a nature. the law of sin and death that keeps him earthbound. All his interests are here, and he has to face circumstances and experiences. He would like to be able to rise above him, but he can't, because he's governed by the law of gravity, even in the spirit world. But he gets to know Christ. He comes to know the Lord Jesus as his personal figure. And that's what it says. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sinner death or lifts me above. That law that would keep me down. The sinful nature of man keeps man down. He looks down. He thinks down. Everything on this world. He doesn't lift his sights. He lives for this world and his body keeps him down. And that's what sin did in the beginning. Man started down, down, down, down. We read this morning a few verses in Jonah, how Jonah went down four times. And that's why man mortally, he's going down. He's going down. He's going down. Physically, he's going down. He's going down, ultimately the grave, if not saved, down to hell. That's the law of sin and of death. But there's another law that can operate. The law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and that's like the law of Aaronautics, is stronger than that law of sin and death. And when a person accepts Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, he can rise above that law. That law of sin and death, he can rise above it because of the power that he has in Christ Jesus and the Spirit making good to him that power. You are amazed that you see the power manifested in that huge plane taking off from the earth. And I've been amazed sometimes I've seen some Christians rise above a circumstance or an experience that naturally would have crushed them. But the child of God has that added power that lifts them above temptation, that lifts them above circumstances that when I threw them down, he's able to rise above them and set his affections on things above. and not on things in the earth. A temptation comes to a Christian. That temptation is absolutely earthly. Now is he going to yield to the law of sin and death? Is he going to give in to it, or is he going to rise above it? Is he going to lay hold of the power that God has put at his disposal in Jesus Christ? as seen in the power of the Holy Spirit. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of power. And that's why the child of God can rise above the world, the things that are in the world, and enjoy a fellowship with God, and enjoy an atmosphere that's not polluted. Talk about Things polluted today, the polluted atmosphere, polluted waters, and so on, the problem of pollution. Let me tell you, a Christian, a born-again Christian, is living in a polluted, filthy world. How can you rise above? Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth. and the law of the spirit of light in Christ Jesus will make you free or enable you to rise above that law of sin and shame and death. And so that's where the Christian's power comes from. It's in Christ Jesus. Paul says, I can do all things. through Christ which strengthens me. He and Silas were cast into prison in Philippi. Their backs bleeding with the Roman latch. Now if they had given in to the natural law of sin and death and that which attended, sympathy, self-pity and so on, and worried, my that had been pouted and all around and complaining in the prison cell, But what was it that enabled them with all that physical pain to sing praises unto God? To pray and sing praises unto God so much so that the prisoners heard them, and God was so delighted to see his servant praising him in such circumstances, he sent an earthquake and delivered. They all knew something. Silas knew something. They were enjoying that law. about or the law of the spirit of light in Christ Jesus. Instead of murmuring and complaining, they were praying and rejoicing. That's what you have in Christ Jesus. I wonder if we're in the enjoyment of that, in Christ Jesus. Then we have that word likeness in verse three. You notice that verse, verse three. I think it's verse three. For what the law could not do in that I was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. Christ was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh. Here is the only remedy for man. In Ephesians chapter two, or Philippians chapter two, you have the seven steps down. And here they are, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of men, and being found in the fashion of man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. That we might be saved from the law of sin and death. that we might be able to rise above it after we are saved and enjoy spiritual things, heavenly things in this light of pollution. Then Jesus Christ had to come down and take our place, become light unto us, apart from sin and suffer in our stead. There are four things in that passage. The first one is, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Jesus Christ thought it not robbery. He thought it not wrong. It wasn't forgery for him to use God's signature because he was on equality with God. He wasn't falsifying his relationship by claiming equality with God. There was no intent to defraud. He says, I am he, and I am my father, one. He thought it not a thing to be grasped at, something he had to steal, or something he had to get a hold of, and hold, but for a moment it was his from all eternity, equality with God. It didn't mean that there was something above him that he had to reach for. No, it was forever his. Equality with God. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself. He divested himself, none of his deity, but he stripped himself of the ensign of his majesty. You remember when he had a little of that majesty out, flash, when he said to those who came to him, I apprehend him. Whom, seek ye. They said, Jesus, Nazareth, and I am he. And they went backward and fell to the ground. He allowed a little of his majesty and his deity to shine forth, but he quickly bathed it. Yet here is this one who is willing to empty himself and become a servant, as we are told in Isaiah. God says, Behold my servant. A servant does what he has told. And Christ says, Lord, I have come. In the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. And as he approached the cross and in the garment, he says, Not my will, but thine be done. He was a faithful servant, and he obeyed his father's will even unto death. And it says the death of the cross. Down, down, down the Savior came, from equality with God, down to the death of the cross. God, man, worm. You read that in Psalm twenty-two. He was God, but he became man. But that wasn't enough. He became a worm. He says, I am a worm, and no man. And at the cross you see the Son of God, riding in pain under the brutal heel of man, as if you stepped upon a worm, half of it, and left the remainder of it to squirm and anguish. He said, I'm a worm. They've fought upon us. They have put a crown of thorns on my head. They've pierced my hands on my feet. They've made my back like a proud field that my very bones look like islands of ivory and a sea of blood. Yes, the death of the cross. I'm a worm despised of the people. Unlike some would return away, ride or turn away from a riding worm, so they turned away from Jesus Christ. The death of the cross. But then God was so pleased in what he did, it says God highly exalted him, and this includes his resurrection. Not only has God exalted him, he's given him a name that's above every name. Find that name. In fact, he has three names given to him in Revelation chapter nineteen, where he's coming on the white horse of the Battle of Armageddon. His name is called faithful and true. Then he says his name is called the word of God. Then his name is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is the one who became like unto man and stooped to the death of the cross. that man might have a Savior and be lifted out of this world of sin pollution, into God's presence to be with them like Him forever. And let me say this, every knee is going to bow, and it tells you that in verse nine of Philippians three, Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is about every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God's Father. You also read it in Revelation. Here's what you read. In Revelation five and thirteen, and every creature, which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth, or heaven, earth and hell, the same as you have in verse ten of Philippians two. Heaven, earth and hell. What is it saying? And every creature which is in heaven, earth, and under the earth, or hell, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and forever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down and worship him that liveth forever and forever. So this one who came into this world and took upon himself our likeness we have in verse three of Romans eight. He said, right down to the depth of the cross, he could go no lower. He had to go lower than you and me to get under us and lift us up. This is what he did at Tel. God was so pleased and so delighted in what his son had done. He's highly exalted. Today he sits at God's right hand and God hath decreed it. And no man can change it. Every knee is going to bow. Even the sinner's knee is going to bow. And every child of God will gladly bow the knee. Sinners will be made to bow. Christians will be glad to bow. And every tongue confess that he is Lord. For the glory of God to follow. the whole universe of God, heaven, earth, and hell, will bow their knee to one man. They will confess with one man, to one man, that he is Lord, with the glory of God the Father. In Jesus Christ I see God. I not only see God, I recognize God, manifest in the flesh. I understand God. For Jesus Christ hath repealed them. I fear God. And also I can trust him. I can trust Christ. And in trusting Christ, it's like trusting God. This is life eternal. They might know thee, the only true God. And Jesus Christ shall now say. So in Christ I seek God, I recognize him, I understand him, I fear him, I trust him, I possess him. For he that hath the Son hath life. Do you possess Jesus Christ? Do you possess that life, that power that enables you to navigate life's troubled waters? Do you have that power that enables you to rise above the circumstance of this cruel, uncertain doom world? Or do you have to go along with the filthy stream, breathing that foul air of all the sin of which man is capable? Or are you able to rise to a pure atmosphere in thought and meditation, because you have the power within to do it, that power is in Jesus Christ. You can possess them. And in that day you'll be with them, and you'll be like them. So that's the message of the gospel. And the message to the Christian too, all that we have is in Jesus. He and he alone can meet by me. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. They have the power to live for them. For that's the meaning of chapter eight that we'll be going into. Until that day when we shall see him and shall be like him forever and forever. When that mighty chorus begun by the church, added to by all the redeemed and eventually all creation, everything in the universal verse of God. bow the knee and confess that he is Lord, the glory of God the Father. You'll either bow today in life and own him your Lord, or you'll bow in that day against your will. You'll be driven to your needs. You'll be forced to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You refuse to honor him. You'll acknowledge him then, and the authority he will exercise then will be, bind him hand and foot, take him away, cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. Those words came from the lips of the one who said to little children, Come unto me. But there are two sides to Christ, and God's plan of redemption. There's love. Plenty of love and compassion. But there's also justice. And God will by no means feel the guilt. The decision is yours. Which do you want? Is love or is wrath? It's up to you to make the decision. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thy son. Come into thy presence when we ask thy blessing upon thy word. Grant that anyone here unsaved may come to see his need, his desperate need, and trust the Savior. Those of us who are saved may we avail ourselves constantly of that power, that reservoir of power that is at our disposal to lift us above this cruel old world into a realm where we can enjoy fellowship and communion with thee. and eventually be caught away to break all barriers and be caught away into thy glad presence to enjoy a