SPEAKER_01: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let's just be still for a moment.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says, walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of your flesh.
SPEAKER_02: It's not about determination and self-hatred.
SPEAKER_02: It's just about learning to live in unison with the Spirit of God that's inside of you.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a Christian, that's what happened when you got converted.
SPEAKER_02: That's why you got converted.
SPEAKER_02: Because God regenerated your cold, dead heart.
SPEAKER_02: He took up residence in you.
SPEAKER_02: So the Bible says, don't you know your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_02: So we're not trying to please a far-off dictator in the sky.
SPEAKER_02: We're trying to live in intimate union with the Spirit of God that's inside of us.
SPEAKER_02: Just take a moment, if you would, and just ask the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Think God has a good word for us today?
SPEAKER_02: Just ask the Holy Spirit just to get you ready for what you're about to hear from God's word.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we we love you.
SPEAKER_02: We've worshiped you in spirit and truth, and now we're ready, our hearts are ready to hear your words.
SPEAKER_02: So, Lord, speak a good word to us.
SPEAKER_02: The good word that you've put in uh Sam today has our name on it.
SPEAKER_02: We receive your word.
SPEAKER_02: We submit to it now in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone says, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can have a scene.
SPEAKER_02: Let me introduce today.
SPEAKER_02: Uh we are uh blessed to have Dr.
SPEAKER_02: Sam Storms with us.
SPEAKER_02: He's been with us on many other occasions.
SPEAKER_02: Uh this is a man that has walked with the Lord for a long time, uh, and he knows what it means to walk in the Spirit, and so he has a timely good word for us today.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I want you to join me in welcoming to the pulpit here at Grand Park by Dr.
SPEAKER_02: Sam Storms.
SPEAKER_04: Thank you, Neil.
SPEAKER_04: It's good to be back with you all.
SPEAKER_04: Um, doesn't seem that long ago that I was here.
SPEAKER_04: I enjoy being with you.
SPEAKER_04: It's great being here, except for your humidity.
SPEAKER_04: Come on, you all need to get together and do something about that.
SPEAKER_04: Have a prayer meeting.
SPEAKER_04: Ask God to diminish that.
SPEAKER_04: But that being said, without any further delay, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Romans chapter 8.
SPEAKER_04: Romans chapter 8.
SPEAKER_04: I want to read verses 1 through 4, although we're gonna spend the great majority of our time just in the first verse, Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 4.
SPEAKER_04: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
SPEAKER_04: For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do.
SPEAKER_04: By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
SPEAKER_04: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_04: Father, I thank you for the very tangible sense of your presence here today.
SPEAKER_04: We thank you for delivering us from judgment and shame and condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: Lord, I pray that your spirit would be at work in our hearts, in our minds, and our affections, in our will, and our bodies.
SPEAKER_04: That you would open your word to us and open us, open our eyes, as Paul prayed in Ephesians 1, enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we might know fully all that you have done for us in Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: So we commit this time to you in his precious name.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: What are the two most glorious words that a sinful, broken soul can hear?
SPEAKER_04: What are the two most encouraging and heartwarming words that I might be able to speak to you today?
SPEAKER_04: I'm thinking about two words that have the power to lift you out of depression, to break the chains of shame.
SPEAKER_04: Two words that can put your fears to rest, to deliver you from anxiety and worry and doubt.
SPEAKER_04: Two words that you and I need to hear today over and over again.
SPEAKER_04: Two words that will energize your worship in a new way and empower you to follow Jesus in the way that you long to do.
SPEAKER_04: Those two words, as you probably have guessed, are no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: No condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: Because the opening of Romans chapter 8 begins with this glorious declaration that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
SPEAKER_04: And Romans chapter 8 concludes with the declaration there's no separation from the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_04: It's really interesting when you look at Romans 8 that these two declarations serve as bookends for what many believe is the most glorious chapter and the most glorious epistle of the most glorious book in the world.
SPEAKER_04: No condemnation, no separation.
SPEAKER_04: If you are in Christ Jesus by faith, these four glorious, inescapable, undeniable, unimaginably beautiful, and unfathomably glorious words are yours to cherish.
SPEAKER_04: No condemnation, no separation.
SPEAKER_04: But the good news is, as we've already heard this morning, it's not only something from which we have been set free, but something to which we have been given to.
SPEAKER_04: Not just that we have been set free from condemnation, but we have now, by that grace of God, entered into this incredible relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_04: You know, it's one thing to be saved.
SPEAKER_04: I'm grateful for that.
SPEAKER_04: We've just sung about it, we've prayed about it.
SPEAKER_04: But it is something else to know with absolute unshakable assurance that that salvation will never end.
SPEAKER_04: I rejoice in hearing that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ, but it's even greater, I suppose, to hear that that will never be taken away from me.
SPEAKER_04: No separation.
SPEAKER_04: I can assure you today that there's no condemnation that you need to fear, and no separation in your relationship with God.
SPEAKER_04: Now, Romans chapter 8 is without question, I believe, the greatest chapter in the Bible.
SPEAKER_04: Many have said that, and I think if you'll immerse yourself in this chapter, you will see that that is true.
SPEAKER_04: One of the interesting things about this chapter that people don't notice are the frequency of references to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_04: If I were to ask you this morning, what chapter in the New Testament has more references to the Holy Spirit than any other, probably the majority of you would say 1 Corinthians 12, because it talks about spiritual gifts, or maybe 1 Corinthians 14.
SPEAKER_04: The Spirit is referred to 13 times in 1 Corinthians 12.
SPEAKER_04: The Holy Spirit is mentioned 19 times in Romans chapter 8.
SPEAKER_04: Almost once every two verses.
SPEAKER_04: And I mentioned this simply to alert you to the fact that what Paul is saying here in Romans chapter 8, verse 1, is made possible when the Spirit of God comes and awakens us in faith to what Christ has done for us on the cross.
SPEAKER_04: That brings no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: And when you doubt whether or not it will last forever, or if you sin the next time, tomorrow, or this afternoon, maybe you'll be separated forever.
SPEAKER_04: The Spirit of God awakens us to the fact that there is no separation.
SPEAKER_04: In other words, the Spirit operates in us in an almost unimaginable way, giving us reasons why trusting Jesus to satisfy is superior to anything else.
SPEAKER_04: That's the role of the Spirit, to reveal to our clouded minds and illumine our hearts and bring conviction to our souls that there really is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: Now, look with me at this first verse of Romans chapter 8.
SPEAKER_04: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
SPEAKER_04: I don't know if you're aware of this, but anytime you see the word therefore in scripture, you're supposed to ask, what is therefore there for?
SPEAKER_04: Well, I can tell you what it's there for.
SPEAKER_04: It's there to tell us that Paul is saying something based on something that has preceded in the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_04: Now, there's a bit of disagreement among biblical scholars to what Paul is referring.
SPEAKER_04: Some say he's only referring to the last two verses of chapter 7, where Paul says, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?
SPEAKER_04: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_04: Therefore, he can say with confidence there's no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: Others think that it's Romans 7, verses 14 through 25 that he has in view.
SPEAKER_04: I don't know if you've ever spent time in that paragraph.
SPEAKER_04: That's the most complex, controversial passage in the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_04: Talks about this problem Paul has that we all have, that there remains within us this principle and power of sin.
SPEAKER_04: And Paul says, the things I want to do, I don't do.
SPEAKER_04: The things I don't want to do, that's the very thing I do.
SPEAKER_04: That's why he cried out, Who's going to deliver me from this body of death?
SPEAKER_04: And so maybe Paul's declaration in verse one is his way of saying, I may feel hopelessly lost because of this internal battle with sin, but I'm confident because there's no condemnation in Christ.
SPEAKER_04: I tend to think that Paul has in mind everything that has preceded in the first seven chapters of Romans.
SPEAKER_04: I think what he's referring to here are the remarkable things that God has done for us in Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: Think back, if you can, over what has been said in Romans, chapter 3.
SPEAKER_04: Paul says we have redemption through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_04: He also said in that chapter that God put forth Jesus as a propitiation, a satisfaction of the wrath of God that we otherwise deserve and should have experienced.
SPEAKER_04: He says in chapter 3 that we have been justified by faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_04: He says in chapter 5 that we have been reconciled to God through him.
SPEAKER_04: Therefore, in view of all of these glorious realities, there is therefore now no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: Now let's spend a little bit of time on a really, really ugly word.
SPEAKER_04: Condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: It's just got a nasty sound to it, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_04: You know it only appears three times in the New Testament, and all three of them are in Romans.
SPEAKER_04: There's this right here, and then in chapter five, twice Paul describes the consequences of Adam's transgression on the rest of the human race as condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: Verse 16 of chapter 5.
SPEAKER_04: The judgment following one trespass, referring to Adam, brought condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: But the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.
SPEAKER_04: Then again, in verse 18, as one trespass, talking about Adam's fall, led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
SPEAKER_04: So what is condemnation?
SPEAKER_04: It's the condition of being utterly alienated from God, lost, hopeless, destined for eternal separation from Him.
SPEAKER_04: Now, think for just a moment about how we use this word in English to give you a better idea of how foreboding this term is.
SPEAKER_04: I haven't seen any lately driving through Houston, but I my guess is that down some streets, maybe in the downtown area, you'll see an old office building that's just run down, and out front there's a sign that says property condemned.
SPEAKER_04: Or perhaps after one of the more recent tragic massines in our country, the president comes on TV and condemns the action of a deranged gunman.
SPEAKER_04: Or there's a man on death row who is condemned to die for having committed premeditated murder.
SPEAKER_04: It's an ugly, dark, foreboding word.
SPEAKER_04: But it's worse still when it isn't applied to a building, but it's applied to us in our relationship with God.
SPEAKER_04: To be condemned by God means you are liable to endure and suffer the penal consequences of your sin in hell forever.
SPEAKER_04: That is why it is so glorious to hear what Paul says.
SPEAKER_04: If you're in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: And will it ever end?
SPEAKER_04: No, there's no separation.
SPEAKER_04: You see, to be condemned is the very antithesis of what it means to be justified.
SPEAKER_04: Some think that the primary theme of the entire book of Romans is that we are justified by faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_04: Now, justification, it's a big word.
SPEAKER_04: You need to understand what it means.
SPEAKER_04: Think of it in this way.
SPEAKER_04: When God looks upon you, when he takes into consideration who you are and all that you have done, you feel condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: But he takes the righteousness of his son, his life, death, and resurrection, all the beauty, all the glory, all the majesty, all the perfections of Jesus, and he transfers that to you and me.
SPEAKER_04: Theologians call this imputation.
SPEAKER_04: He reckons it to our account.
SPEAKER_04: And then he declares us righteous, not because he sees what we have done or failed to do, but because of what Jesus has done and we are in him by faith.
SPEAKER_04: Now, as unpleasant as it is, I want you to think deeply about this word condemnation and its opposite justification.
SPEAKER_04: The uncertainty of both today and tomorrow, the loss of hope, the fear of the future, shattered dreams, painful separation, paralyzing guilt, crippling shame.
SPEAKER_04: When you give full weight to the implications of this word, Paul's declaration that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ begins to reverberate in your heart and fill you with joy and gratitude.
SPEAKER_04: In other words, if you are in Christ Jesus, there is no valid reason why you should ever feel condemned ever, ever again.
SPEAKER_04: That doesn't mean you won't.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we oftentimes you may walk in here this morning feeling under the condemnation of God, even though you're not.
SPEAKER_04: Martin Lloyd Jones was perhaps the greatest preacher of the 20th century, pastor for many, many years at Westminster Chapel in London.
SPEAKER_04: Listen to how he describes this.
SPEAKER_04: It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_04: He says, There are many who understand Romans 8:1.
SPEAKER_04: They seem to think of the Christian as a person who, if he confesses his sin and asks for forgiveness, is forgiven.
SPEAKER_04: At that moment, he's not under condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: But then, if he could sin again, he is back more under condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: And then he repents and confesses his sin again and asks for pardon, and he's cleansed once more.
SPEAKER_04: So for these people, the Christian is a person who is constantly passing from one state to the other, back and forth, back and forth, condemned, not condemned.
SPEAKER_04: Now that is wholly mistaken.
SPEAKER_04: It's a complete failure to understand what Paul is saying.
SPEAKER_04: The Christian, says Lloyd Jones, is a person who can never be condemned.
SPEAKER_04: He can never come into a state of condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: No condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: The apostle is not talking about your experience or what you feel.
SPEAKER_04: He's talking about your position, your standing, your status.
SPEAKER_04: You're in a position in which being justified, you can never again come to condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: That is the meaning of this word.
SPEAKER_04: No, it means never.
SPEAKER_04: So I want you to get that.
SPEAKER_04: Regardless of how you may feel today, depressed, angry, ashamed, guilty, regardless of your experience, your position, is that you are under no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: Now, why is it so important for us to understand this?
SPEAKER_04: What's the point of my emphatic uh statements concerning no condemnation?
SPEAKER_04: Quite simply, there is little hope that you will ever make much progress in your Christian life and in your battle with sin until such time as you know that in spite of your sin, there's no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: The only sin that can be defeated is a sin that has been forgiven.
SPEAKER_04: And in your battle with temptation, the world and the flesh, the only way you're gonna find success is knowing and being empowered with this glorious truth.
SPEAKER_04: I'm not condemned.
SPEAKER_04: You and I will find the power and the incentive to pursue obedience in our lives only when we come to fully grasp what it means to say, no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: If you don't understand it, you're gonna continue to struggle with guilt, you're gonna continue to live under the crippling power of shame, always trying to win God's favor and proving yourself, trying to get him on your good side.
SPEAKER_04: You live constantly an insecure life, impatient with others, hating yourself until you hear those words reverberate in your heart.
SPEAKER_04: No condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: I'm sure that most of you know, and in fact, I talked about this a couple of times back when I was with you, uh, how most Christians sadly try to motivate themselves and others to obey God and to live a holy life.
SPEAKER_04: And they do it using fear.
SPEAKER_04: And they basically make threats.
SPEAKER_04: They describe in gory detail the consequences of sin.
SPEAKER_04: They threaten you with images of hellfire.
SPEAKER_04: They try to induce self-loathing as a way to kind of motivate you to live a godly life.
SPEAKER_04: Sometimes they'll even hold out forgiveness like a carrot on a stick, constantly drawing you to something that you never can fully taste.
SPEAKER_04: That's not how Paul and the rest of the New Testament does it.
SPEAKER_04: Paul, in order to motivate you to obedience, simply says, There's no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: In other words, all of these consequences of sin are in and of themselves true.
SPEAKER_04: But that is not enough to get the consent of your heart and the act of your will to obey the commandments of Scripture.
SPEAKER_04: I know that many of you have been through really hard times, as all of us have.
SPEAKER_04: And you think about I invested my life savings in a business and it went bankrupt.
SPEAKER_04: And I like to be accepted by others, but they reject me.
SPEAKER_04: My child informs me that he or she is same-sex attracted.
SPEAKER_04: Or I came home to find out that my spouse has said they've committed adultery and they're walking out on me.
SPEAKER_04: In those moments, the only thing that usually comes to mind is it must be that God hates me.
SPEAKER_04: It must be that condemnation still lingers over my head and awaits me in the future.
SPEAKER_04: Folks, the only thing that's gonna elevate your heart and empower you to live in a way that's honoring to the Lord, the only way you're gonna find purpose and power in life is knowing without question that there's no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: Now, I know the pushback on this.
SPEAKER_04: Some people say, wait a minute, Sam, if you emphasize that in the way that you are, aren't you gonna encourage people to sin?
SPEAKER_04: I mean, if they believe there's no condemnation, that kind of gives them a free ticket to live however they want.
SPEAKER_04: Because they can always fall back, oh, well, there's no condemnation, so I guess I'll go out, get drunk, take drugs, commit an affair, do whatever.
SPEAKER_04: You know, I actually believe that living under condemnation actually strengthens and solidifies sin in your life.
SPEAKER_04: Think about it.
SPEAKER_04: The pressure of condemnation and of shame, the fear of judgment eventually becomes unbearable and it needs a release, it needs an outlet.
SPEAKER_04: You need an escape valve.
SPEAKER_04: And sin does that, it eases the pressure.
SPEAKER_04: You just, well, there's no condemnation.
SPEAKER_04: If I'm under condemnation, what does it matter how I live?
SPEAKER_04: I can't do anything about it anyway.
SPEAKER_04: You see, we sin because so often it anesthetizes and numbs our souls.
SPEAKER_04: And it feels like depression and despair are gone because I mean, well, what can I do anyway?
SPEAKER_04: I'm hopeless.
SPEAKER_04: The person who uses the truth of no condemnation to justify their immoral and idolatrous lifestyle doesn't understand what no condemnation means.
SPEAKER_04: Because that truth ought to empower you in the realization that although you deserve hell, you'll never come within an inch of it.
SPEAKER_04: either now or in eternity future.
SPEAKER_04: Now, note something here in this passage.
SPEAKER_04: This is not a universal blessing.
SPEAKER_04: This declaration of no condemnation doesn't apply indiscriminately to anyone.
SPEAKER_04: It's for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: Don't be misled by some false sentimentality that says, well, yeah, I know people, but they're sincere and they're civil and they're compassionate.
SPEAKER_04: They even come to church every once in a while.
SPEAKER_04: They even say they believe in God.
SPEAKER_04: But that's not what Paul is saying.
SPEAKER_04: It's for those who are in Christ Jesus by faith.
SPEAKER_04: Paul was not a universalist.
SPEAKER_04: He doesn't believe that everybody's going to be saved regardless of what they think of Christ.
SPEAKER_04: The promise, the assurance of no condemnation is only for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: Now I wish we could spend more time on that little phrase.
SPEAKER_04: Do you know that the phrase in Christ or in him is used 160 times in the New Testament?
SPEAKER_04: It's pervasive.
SPEAKER_04: It describes in ways that really transcend our comprehension this spiritual solidarity, this covenant union, this mystical oneness that we share with the Lord.
SPEAKER_04: You see there are there are two levels of experience for all of us there's where we are geographically and who we are spiritually.
SPEAKER_04: Think about it we are all here right now in Texas.
SPEAKER_04: That only describes where we are it doesn't describe who we are who we are is in Christ and notice one of the most beautiful words in this this verse that you probably just kind of overlooked and skimmed over.
SPEAKER_04: There is therefore now no condemnation right now and we are told at the end of the chapter and that that reality will never end.
SPEAKER_04: There's no separation I know some of you are thinking right wait a minute.
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
SPEAKER_04: There's no condemnation or won't be when I get older when I'm more mature when I've read more of my Bible when I give more money to the ministry of the church when I overcome all my sinful habits when all my bills are paid when I get a new job when I get the praise and adulation that I think I deserve from others when my enemies stop persecuting me when I become a better version of myself somewhere down the road when the wrongs against us have been put right when I've been vindicated when I stop making a fool of myself in public no now and forever there is no condemnation God's attitude toward you his feelings for you his thoughts about you all of his intentions toward you are driven by love not anger or disappointment or frustration instead of condemnation there's only compassion and his commitment to you forever.
SPEAKER_04: God's attitude is and always will be one of no condemnation think for just a moment just let your mind run for a moment what would your life be like if you really believed this what would your marriage be like how would you treat your husband or your wife or your children how would your approach to your job change how would your attitude in the body of Christ be different?
SPEAKER_04: How would your battle with temptation be different?
SPEAKER_04: How would your worship look and sound if you really believed the truth of Romans 8 1 now there's one more question that we need to answer before we conclude if there's now no condemnation where did it go?
SPEAKER_04: What happened to it?
SPEAKER_04: Did God kind of wave some sort of magical wand of mercy and it just disappeared and vaporized in midair is God sitting at his heavenly laptop and he's looking at all your sins and somehow he inadvertently and accidentally pushes the delete button and it just disappears where did it go?
SPEAKER_04: Well I assure you it was neither an accident nor an inadvertent mistake.
SPEAKER_04: The answer is given in verses 2 through 4 that we don't want we won't have time to spend much time here but look at it.
SPEAKER_04: He says for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ from the law of sin and death condemnation is here described as the law of sin and death so God has done what the law weaken by the flesh could not do.
SPEAKER_04: It's not that the law of God was bad it's that we are weak.
SPEAKER_04: We can't obey it that's why it can't in obedience to it cannot bring about forgiveness.
SPEAKER_04: By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh.
SPEAKER_04: I wish we could spend time on that he sent his own son didn't send Michael or Gabriel or any of the other angels didn't send a four one of the four living creatures he didn't make a special creation and send that entity to die for us.
SPEAKER_04: He sent his own son and notice we're told that when he did so he condemned sin in the flesh whose flesh the flesh of Jesus Christ when his body was nailed to that tree the condemnation that you and I so richly deserve was laid on him.
SPEAKER_04: I mentioned a moment ago that justification is when God takes the righteousness the holiness the purity and perfections of Jesus and imputes it to us he reckons us as having that very righteousness ourselves and then when we trust that in faith he declares us just in his presence well there's also another form of imputation where he takes your sin and your unrighteousness and your unholiness and he imputes it to Jesus the guilt of all you have done the shame of all your failures is laid on him and in that act God condemned sin, your sin in the flesh and the body of Jesus so that we can now rejoice in the fact that there is no condemnation I don't know how many of y'all will remember this.
SPEAKER_04: Most of you who are of my generation will but you younger people will not but I can remember growing up and every week sitting with my mom and dad and my sister and watching the show Perry Mason.
SPEAKER_04: Y'all remember that Perry Mason was an incredible show and it was incredible for one very significant reason.
SPEAKER_04: Perry Mason never lost a case Hamilton Berger who was the district attorney the prosecutor was so frustrated with Perry Mason because he thought he had the goods on Mason's client and he would present just a multitude of facts that would point to the guilt of Mason's client and then Perry Mason in some sort of magical mysterious way maybe because of his legal training or whatever would get his client off.
SPEAKER_04: Do you know why he always did that?
SPEAKER_04: Because he never defended a guilty person.
SPEAKER_04: Every individual that Perry Mason ever had as a client was innocent.
SPEAKER_04: I mean I think I could probably pull that off so it wasn't because he was a great lawyer and a great advocate for his client is because they were innocent.
SPEAKER_04: And in fact typically at the end of every episode the real guilty party would be uncovered now in light of all this I want you to hear how Paul concludes Romans chapter 8 what then shall we say to these things what what shall we say in light of all this what shall we say if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how he not together with him graciously give us all things who's going to bring a charge against God's elect who's going to declare that no no no I I know some people here today you're condemned maybe others are set free but you're condemned no who shall bring a 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 interceding for us.
SPEAKER_04: Think about that not only did Jesus endure on the cross the wrath the justice of God that you and I deserve exhausting it in himself so that you will never see it or taste it for a single solitary second from now and into eternity but he also is at the right hand of the Father advocating for you.
SPEAKER_04: He is our defense attorney but here's the difference between Jesus and Perry Mason all his clients are guilty and yet we're set free.
SPEAKER_04: Is that a miscarriage of justice?
SPEAKER_04: Is there some loophole in the law that Jesus held up to his father said you got to let him go figure something that you didn't consider.
SPEAKER_04: No, he intercedes for guilty people and they are set free because the judgment that they did deserve as guilty people has been born in the person of Jesus himself.
SPEAKER_04: He died he rose again he now intercedes at the right hand of the Father are there two more glorious words that you could ever hear or believe or trust than these there is therefore in light of all that has been said in the first seven chapters in in view of that on the basis of that there is therefore no condemnation for those who are by faith in Christ Jesus I want to close by praying for you this morning because I I realize that as clear and unequivocal as Paul's words are sometimes it's still hard for you to receive them you think well it's probably true for some people I know but if they knew me what I'm like what I do how I fail they'd question it.
SPEAKER_04: And you continue to live under this dark cloud this heavy weight of shame and guilt and condemnation and God wants that to be blown away he wants it to be removed.
SPEAKER_04: He wants you to live in the freedom of knowing that you have been forgiven and that there is no separation from that glorious state of salvation.
SPEAKER_04: So let's pray Father I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who has blazed a path for us into your presence I don't come because of who I am in and of myself or because of who Pastor Neil is or anyone in this auditorium.
SPEAKER_04: Come in the name of Jesus because of who he is and what he's done for us.
SPEAKER_04: Father I'm asking that your spirit would move in power in the lives of everyone here especially those who still question and live in doubt and fear that well maybe today there's no condemnation but what if I commit the same sins tomorrow that I committed yesterday?
SPEAKER_04: What if I commit those same sins the day after tomorrow and every day until Jesus comes back won't that won't that vacate the verdict and I'll be found guilty and condemned?
SPEAKER_04: No.
SPEAKER_04: So Spirit of God I pray right now that you would do what my words cannot accomplish that you would move in power in the hearts and the minds of those who are struggling to believe this truth.
SPEAKER_04: That you would open their eyes to the glorious reality of who Jesus is and what he's done for them.
SPEAKER_04: And as they think about being in Christ even with that they would say Lord thank you that by faith you have put me in your Son that you moved in my heart and my mind and overcame the defiance of my soul and caused me to be born again that I might live and put my faith and trust in Jesus so for those of you who are arguing with yourself right now you know who you are it's you're just arguing with your own soul saying yeah but do you remember what you did on the way to church this morning do you remember last night your failures you know what's probably going to come again in the days ahead no condemnation must be a dream.
SPEAKER_04: No it's not a dream it's the greatest living reality that any Christian could ever contemplate.
SPEAKER_04: Spirit of God would you please we are asking you for the glory of Jesus that you would awaken souls to that this morning enlighten hearts open us to see what that to which we were blind for so many years.
SPEAKER_04: Let us rest in that truth let us rejoice in that truth.
SPEAKER_04: Let us find in that truth the power and the incentive to live a life that is pleasing to you let us never be so brash and arrogant as to use this truth as an excuse to sin all the more that's not your intent in forgiving us it's your intent that the joy and the gratitude and the delight that comes from being forgiven not being under condemnation would move and motivate us to live a life that is pleasing to you so Holy Spirit we ask that you would do that today and every moment hereafter until we stand in your presence we pray this in Jesus' name amen to take a moment just think about what we've heard today.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a guest we'd like to teach the Bible which uh Sam has done today very clearly very plainly one of the greatest things about Christianity is that Christ took on flesh incarnation is a big word we use for that and he died on the cross in our place and for our sins.
SPEAKER_02: And so basically we deserve condemnation when we get a God that takes on flesh and dies in our place rises from the dead sits down at the right hand of the Father in heaven and he intercedes for us.
SPEAKER_02: He prays for us.
SPEAKER_02: So you deserve condemnation and you get intercession.
SPEAKER_02: A God that not only dies for you but prays for you.
SPEAKER_02: I believe one of the prayers that Jesus prays is that we would believe what you heard today.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't come to point a big long finger at you and go, um nobody around you right now may know but I know there's the force.
SPEAKER_02: Now no condemnation think about that for just a moment.
SPEAKER_02: God's going to sing something over us just let this end today.
SPEAKER_02: Let this end to the dark places that no one else gets to see that God already knows exists.
SPEAKER_02: Let's just think for a moment together.
SPEAKER_02: Father that explains it all it's this love that's not of this world.
SPEAKER_02: That's why the Bible says in first John see with what love the Father has loved us.
SPEAKER_02: It's otherworldly it's alien it's foreign it's strange because people love us on the basis of our performance.
SPEAKER_02: You chose to love us and then never have your mind changed about loving us.
SPEAKER_02: So our addictions don't have power over us there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Pray for anyone that's not in Christ today that's never begun a relationship with you.
SPEAKER_02: That even now Holy Spirit it would just click in them that's the thing I've been looking for I don't need self-improvement or self-help.
SPEAKER_02: I need a savior I need a personal savior that died from my sins that is only found in Christ but it's available to everyone today.
SPEAKER_02: Lord thank you for that truth.
SPEAKER_02: We're humbled pray Holy Spirit you draw anyone today anyone that today's the day draw them to yourself we pray in Christ's name and everyone says Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen one of the things I love about Dr.
SPEAKER_02: Sam Storms yes he's a doctor he's written many books and he's a very brilliant man but uh he is a spirit led gracious man.
SPEAKER_02: So that's what you heard today from a man who's been at this long time.
SPEAKER_02: And so uh if you have any questions about anything you heard today maybe you're here and you're like hey I'm trying to explore Christianity I want to understand how I'm not condemned and yet how it all works.
SPEAKER_02: Some of our pastors will be available down front.
SPEAKER_02: We'd love to have that conversation with you.
SPEAKER_02: Sam will be available down front.
SPEAKER_02: If he said something today you had a question about he'd love to answer that okay uh if you're our guest I guess we say thank you for being here you're always welcome all I ask you today is you just text the word welcome to that number on the screen behind me that gives us a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_02: We'd love to help you take the next step in your spiritual journey or if that's finding a church or answering some spiritual questions you have or praying with you.
SPEAKER_02: We'd love to do any and all of that, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We've always got things going on in the life of our church.
SPEAKER_02: We make you those every week by way of our video announcements so let's check out the screens together to see what's coming up opportunities for you and your family to get involved here at Grand Parkway.
SPEAKER_00: Let's check this out together here's what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: October is Love Your Neighbor Month at Grand Parkway these are not a list of to-dos to add to our daily lives but rather an invitation to live a different way.
SPEAKER_00: It is an invitation to live a missional lifestyle.
SPEAKER_00: You should participate because Matthew 22 37 through 39 states You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first and greatest commandment.
SPEAKER_00: A second is equally important love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: As we move toward our neighbors, coworkers or fellow students in Christlike love, we are proclaiming Christ both in word and deed.
SPEAKER_00: You can sign up as an individual family Sunday class or community group for any of the church events.
SPEAKER_00: Also choose one or more ideas on how to love intentionally each week as an individual or family.
SPEAKER_00: Most importantly begin each day by asking the Lord, how can I love my neighbor today?
SPEAKER_00: Then look for doors that the Lord opens.
SPEAKER_00: Remember these are ideas that the Spirit leads in a different way listen and obey.
SPEAKER_00: Hilarious Sunday is on October 6th.
SPEAKER_00: It's our chance to give joyfully and generously toward expanding our kids building men, you're invited to join us for men's weekend on October 18th through 19th.
SPEAKER_00: Come here checkly and speak on what it means to truly love and follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this powerful time of fellowship, growth and inspiration.
SPEAKER_00: Finally the fall weather is upon us which means it's time for fall retreat.
SPEAKER_00: This year we will head to Camp Tejas from November 1st to the 3rd for a weekend dedicated to refilling all our margins.
SPEAKER_00: We desire that your students will return spiritually physically and mentally refreshed to finish the semester.
SPEAKER_00: Registration is$225, which includes transportation, food and lodging.
SPEAKER_00: We hope to see your student there.
SPEAKER_00: For more information or to register for these events please visit our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service just a reminder if you're a guest we have adult Bible studies that happen at this next hour we have a couple that happen right now during this session but most of them happen this next hour right now right across the parking lot in our old sanctuary which is a building with a green roof there's directional signage everywhere.
SPEAKER_02: They're age specific so you meet people that are in your same age and stage of life we'd love for you to take the next step and and get into a smaller environment where you meet people you experience two things socialization and also transformation.
SPEAKER_02: We think those go hand to hand together when the church okay does that make sense say amen we'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessings if you would stand on your feet and hold your hands out you're by nature wicked sinful selfish damnable wretches and you deserve the fire of hell and instead a holy God sent his perfect son.
SPEAKER_02: It's called the incarnation you deserve condemnation and you got the incarnation so the same Jesus who died for you could pray for you.
SPEAKER_02: You get you deserve condemnation and you end up getting intercession.
SPEAKER_02: In other words the God that knows you the best prays for you the most depart from now and live freely and joyfully in the acceptance and love of God who will never condemn you.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen bless you