The Benefits of Being Christians
A Five Part Sermon Series From Romans 8
Abraham Lincoln was walking into town one day when he was overtaken by a man in a wagon going in the same direction. Lincoln flagged him down and asked, "Will you have the goodness to take my overcoat to town for me?" "With pleasure," the stranger responded, "but how will you get it back?" "Oh, very easily," replied Lincoln. "I intend to remain in it!"
An elderly lady walked slowly into a life insurance office in Minneapolis during the worst part of the Great Depression. She wanted to know if she could stop paying the premiums on her husband's life insurance policy. "He's been dead sometime now," she said, "and I don't believe I can afford making the payments any more." The clerk behind the desk looked up her husband's policy and discovered it was worth several hundred thousands of dollars. This poor lady was wealthy, but she had no idea. She didn't understand the benefits of what she possessed.
It is possible to be ignorant of certain benefits that could save you a world of suffering. It is also possible to know of such benefits, but in the course of life, to forget them. The Psalmist said in Psalm 103:2, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits." But we do forget sometimes, when we need desperately to remember. If we are not to forget, then we must take steps to remember and often that means rehearsing some of the things we know, but perhaps take for granted. With the need for remembering in mind, I would like to take you over to a favorite chapter of mine in the New Testament: Romans 8. Please open your Bible to that chapter.
I like Romans 8 because it rehearses for me some of the matchless benefits that we Christians have in Christ. When I am tempted momentarily to give in or give up, rehearsing these benefits helps me, and I believe it can help you as well. There are at least five benefits of being Christians in this chapter, depending upon how you choose to break them down.
Romans 8 is a rather lengthy chapter (39 verses), so I know I cannot share all five of the benefits mentioned there in a single message. We'll need a short series, which I'd like to begin with this message. When we're finished, Lord willing, we will have heard five messages.
Before I begin today's message, let me share with you a thumbnail sketch of the five benefits of Roman 8 that are your's if you are a Christian. If you are not a Christian, these benefits could be yours if you would obey the gospel.
"Five Benefits of Being A Christian" --- (1) No Condemnation (2) An Indwelling Companion (3) Hope That Is Worth A Wait (4) Connections (5) God For Us
In this message, we'll deal with the first benefit: No Condemnation. It's found in the first four verses of chapter. Please follow along as I read them.
(Read Romans 8:1-4)
My friends, there is so much good in the words of this passage! This contains some of the greatest promises in the Bible! Let's examine them more closely. To help us keep our place while we do, we'll consider the Message, the Magnitude, and the Means of this freedom.
I. The Message of Freedom.
It is stated in verse two.
(Read v. 2)
Now these words have a context that you may or may not be familiar with, so let me explain it. Those words "law of sin" (underline them) appear two times immediately before this in chapter 7 (v. 23 and v. 25). You might want to underline them as I read.
(Read 7:23-25)
What is Paul talking about? What is this "law of sin?" Well, it is something very familiar to every Christian in this room. You know about it from personal experience. I call it the "age old struggle." It is the war that goes on between the flesh and the spirit - between what you know you ought to do and what something inside you wants to do.
When an opportunity to do something that might be momentarily enjoyable presents itself, but you know it would be wrong to do it, is there any kind of struggle that goes on in your life? You know there is. A part of you wants to do it and a part of you doesn't. An inner struggle ensues.
You're on a diet and somebody comes into the room with a dozen Danish pastries. Your diet says "no." But something inside you is screaming to get out, right? (Unfortunately, some of the issues we struggle with are much more serious than Danish pastries.)
Question: Are you the only Christian who struggles that way? Answer: Every Christian struggles that way. Even the great Apostle Paul struggled that way! Listen to his words beginning in verse 14 of chapter 7:
(Read 7:14-24)
Hey, this is not Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy writing this. It is Paul! Paul struggled against doing wrong just like we do, and I gather from these verses, that sometimes he blew it!
If we had lived in the first century, we would have looked at Paul and said, "Wow! What a spiritual man! What an overcomer!" But I suspect Paul would have corrected us in that. He would have said, "What a wretched man! You don't know the half of it." (I know that because that is what he says in verse 24.)
This "law of sin" which is in the members of our body is a terribly powerful thing. It left even the great Apostle Paul pleading for someone to help him, to set him free from it. "Who will set me free from the body of this death?"
Some have suggested that there may be a play on words in that sentence. It was an ancient custom in some places, when a criminal was caught, to bind him to a corpse as punishment for his wrong, forcing him to drag this putrefying dead body with him wherever he went. If indeed Paul had such a picture in mind, it would certainly add gravity to his plea to be set free! "Who will set me free from the body of this death?" This "law of sin" at work in his members and his inability to shake it off caused him great anguish! What could he do? Then, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, he said, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Drop down to verse 2 of chapter 8: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." He has set us free from the corpse! We no longer have to drag it around with us wherever we go!
We haven't mentioned how this occurs. We've simply looked at the announcement of it, the Message of freedom. We'll get to the very important how in just a bit.
Let's look next at
II. The Magnitude of this Freedom. (Just how far does it go?)
Sometimes Paul's forte seems to be long, drawn out explanations of things. (Those of you who study the Bible regularly know what I mean.) I confess, sometimes, in my study, I get a bit lost in the words of Paul. In this case, though, he is short and to the point. There is no way to get lost.
The magnitude of this freedom is stated in two simple words: "no condemnation."
"There is, therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Before I elaborate on just what "no condemnation" means, I want you to notice three very important words, the last three words in verse 1: "in Christ Jesus." They appear twice in these four verses. Beyond that, they appear 13 times in the Book of Romans. Perhaps a story will help you catch their importance.
Abraham Lincoln was walking into town one day when he was overtaken by a man in a wagon going in the same direction. Lincoln flagged him down and asked, "Will you have the goodness to take my overcoat to town for me?" "With pleasure," the stranger responded, "but how will you get it back?" "Oh, very easily," replied Lincoln. "I intend to remain in it!"
Mr. Lincoln's humor aside, we have to be "in the coat" if we want the ride to town. Likewise, we must be "in Christ Jesus" in order to have the benefit of the freedom under discussion here. This is written only to Christians who are living their lives in Christ. Unbelievers and backsliders can't ride.
OK, so what of the magnitude of this freedom in Christ? How far does it go? I like Kenneth Wuest's translation of this. He said, "Therefore, now, there is not even one bit of condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."
I think that means a couple of things very important to you and me. First, there is no condemnation in the struggle.
I know that some Christians are unwilling to admit that there is a struggle with the old sinful nature at all. They have a false idea of Christianity. They think Christianity means that God takes this struggle away and removes the temptation so they never have to struggle again. That certainly would be nice. Unfortunately, it's not true; and many people have been hurt and have become angry with themselves and God because it doesn't work that way. I have seen young Christians become very upset at times because they thought they should no longer have to struggle - and when they did, they thought there was something wrong with them. I've seen others, unwilling to admit their own weakness, look down with disdain on the struggle of others. But my Bible says (and so does yours) in I John 1:8, written to Christians, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us." We all have the struggle.
Listen, if there is now "no condemnation for those who are in Christ," and all Christians struggle with sin, then I conclude that there is no condemnation while the struggle is going on. That is something very important to realize.
Picture two ten year old boys in track and field, trying to learn the long jump. One has a father who screams and hollers and threatens and condemns every time his boy messes up. "You stupid idiot! You good-for-nothing! You're worthless! You ought to be disowned!" I know you've all seen the type. The poor kid gets so exasperated, he seldom succeeds. Any desire he might have had to please his dad is sooner or later drowned out in the waves of condemnation. He often just gives up. As an older teenager, he may rebel.
The other boy, though, has a dad who, though he doesn't rejoice when his boy messes up, helps him up when he falls and is constantly encouraging him to do better. The boy knows his dad is on his side. "Come on, son, you can do it. I know it. Just a little higher this time. You can do it." That boy will probably reach his full potential.
Which kind of Father is God? If you say He's like the first, you need to go back to first grade - no kindergarten. You've missed something very important in your training. You don't know what God is like at all! My point is, there is no condemnation in the struggle! The heavenly father knows we have to learn and grow. He is for us, not against us, even in the struggle
You see, when we are struggling with the old nature, we are inclined to think, "How could God possibly love me when I'm struggling with this? But He does! That's my point.
Later in this very chapter there is a statement backing me up on this. Down in verse 15 it says, "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!'" "Abba" isn't a harsh term, nor a term of condemnation. It is a term that is very close to our word "Daddy." It is a term of endearment.
There is no condemnation in the struggle! The fact that the struggle is there is a sure indicator that there is life! Only a dead person ceases to struggle. When you stumble, get right back up. Your Heavenly Father wants you to win!
But "no condemnation" must also mean no rejection by God in the end.
The Christian who is dedicated to his or her heavenly Father through Christ, will someday hear those words, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master." And he/she will do this in spite of the weaknesses of the flesh. Halleluia! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! That is good news! That is a real benefit!
We have one thing yet to consider:
III. The Means of this Freedom.
How does all this work?
(Read v. 3-4)
When Paul says "what the law could not do," he is referring to the Law of Moses, the greatest moral law ever given to man prior to the birth of Christ. It included the ten commandments and all the other laws we call the Old Testament.
There is something very strange in verse 3, however. It is that little word "weak." The law of Moses, great as it was, was weak. Actually, it's even more strange than that. The Greek word here is elsewhere translated feeble, impotent, sick, and without strength.
Does it bother any of you to hear me say the law of Moses was impotent? Well, it was. I say it because Paul said it.
I have a fly rod at home the my wife bought me a number of years ago. At that time it cost $300. It's a great fly rod. I've caught many fish with it including some really big ones. It has a suspicious bump down on the butt section, though. That's because one day I learned that it makes a lousy doorstop. I know that because, just a week after she bought it for me, the wind blew the door of my pickup shut on it. Ever seen a grown man cry? That rod was designed to cast and catch fish. It wasn't designed to be a door stop.
The law of Moses did exactly what it was designed to do, but it did a lousy job doing what it was never designed to do. It was designed to show man his sin and it did a tremendous job of it. Galatians 3:19 tells us the Law "was added for the sake of defining transgression." Then, three verses later it tells us that the law "shut up all men under sin." The law of Moses condemned every person who ever tried to keep it in its entire 1500 year history! (Excluding Jesus, of course.)
The law wasn't designed to set us free. For that purpose it was impotent, weak, sick. Paul spent the first half of his life living under the law of Moses and we just read in chapter 7 how ineffective it was for him. It only showed him how bad he really was!
Now, listen to verse 3 again: "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh., in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled..."
The sacrifice of Jesus takes away the sin that frustrates us so much in the struggle and would certainly condemn us in the end! As a result, there is "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Look again at verse 4: "in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled..." In the original language, that word "fulfilled" was used to describe the leveling up of a hole in the ground. You know, you have this big hole in the back yard and you go out and fill it up with dirt, tamp it down, then add more dirt until the hole is gone.
All of us have, in the course of our short lifetimes, dug pretty deep holes for ourselves. On our own we cannot climb out. The law of Moses showed us that it was impossible. But God has come and filled up the hole! We can walk again on level ground! Praise God Praise God! Praise God!
Conclusion
Where do these words find you? If you're a Christian, do you realize the blessing of freedom you have in Christ? There is "no condemnation." None. Nada. I can think of no better place to be than in Christ.
Do you realize that the "no condemnation" is for the struggle you are having right now as well? God is not your enemy - He's your Father! He's for you. (I'm going to cover it later in more detail, but down in verse 31 of this chapter, Paul says, "If God is for us, who is against us?" Talk about freedom from fear!
Maybe you're not in Christ, though. If so, then this rich blessing that Christians enjoy is not yours. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. For you, the hole you've dug isn't filled in. Matter of fact, you're at the bottom of it with no hope of climbing out on your own. Why don't you do something about it? You could get into Christ where the benefit is today if you wanted to. We can show you how.
I had lunch with three preachers in Springfield this past week. As we were discussing this passage, Bill White told us a true story.
Bill was in the Military in his younger years. He was a guard in West Germany at the Berlin wall. He told us of a number of attempted escapes he witnessed from his vantage point as people tried to flee from East to West. One such escape attempt left a lasting impression on him - showing him how important freedom is. He said there was a commotion on the eastern side. As he and his fellow guards watched, they saw a man running. Communist guards were in pursuit. The man disappeared for a bit, behind some buildings, then reappeared on the top of a twelve story building. There was no place for him to go. To turn back would mean prison or death. To go forward would mean certain death. Then as the guards came closer to him, he lunged forward in a final act of desperation, into the air shouting "freiheit!" Freedom! He plunged twelve stories to his death on the West Berlin side of the wall.
You have to be desperate to resort to measures like that. You have to really want freedom. Perhaps there is someone here on the eastern side of the wall of sin who would like to be free. Fortunately you don't have to die physically. Jesus has already done that for you. You do need to accept His offer and become His disciple. Why don't you do it?
Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.
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