Book of Romans, 8:1 - No Condemnation For Those Walking After The Spirit, Pt. 2 (07/21/2019)

Colossians 1 and Romans 8:1 as the Framework for Salvation

Back in Colossians chapter 1 this morning, and we kind of took a little springboard out of Romans chapter 8 verse 1. Into the whole Bible that happens from time to time. Romans 8 1 is Perhaps the second most misunderstood verse in the Bible right after John 3 16.

It's just because everybody focuses on the first phrase and doesn't pay much attention to figuring out what God meant by the second phrase but If you read carefully some of our brothers and sisters in the past have had some great thoughts and ideas about that and my favorite was certainly Spurgeon said some wonderful words about it, but John Calvin, I think said it the best and we talked about that a few Sundays ago.

But anyway, one of the things John Calvin said was that second phrase. It's Practically just is talking about the same thing as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So when a person gets saved over 33 different things happen Instantly that God does to us and one of the things is that we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Our body becomes the temple of the Living God that has to change everything and so that's what John Calvin says. That's the reason that people who are born again Walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and remember it's talking about a Predominant walk.

It's not talking about a perfect walk in fact all of chapter 7 proves it's not talking about a perfect walk because that's the same Apostle Paul who The Holy Spirit used to write chapter 8 same person same life.

Same person who did what he didn't want to do and didn't do what he wanted to do was the same person that said There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. So He was obviously Paul was obviously walking according to the Spirit.

But sometimes he had a problem with his flesh and all of us do and that's why you have to take chapter 7 and 8 together. You can't separate them by putting chapters on them like we do just I guess to make it easy to find the verses.

But sometimes it makes it harder to understand. It's all one thing. It's all the same person. So what we started last Sunday was going through and Looking to look at what the scripture says is John Calvin, right when he says that phrase That they walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit that that phrase Basically is talking about it's a spirit and dwelt person.

It's a Holy Spirit and dwelt person. It's not a perfect person, but it's someone who's been in dwelt by the Holy Spirit otherwise, he wouldn't have that predominant walk to try to move towards the spiritual things and so When we found Colossians chapter 1 here, it's interesting because All but about three of the 33 things that they're in my old sermon on that subject are found in one chapter here.

So we started there with chapter 1 verse 1 and we went down probably through about verse 5 and I won't I won't reread that now because We kind of went into detail on it last time but Basically in those first few verses there it lists about Seven things that are given to us out of some 30 different ones.

If you notice they're starting with verse 1 and following down through there. You're gonna find these things the first is first thing that he's gives us his faithfulness. He makes it possible for us to be faithful to him and The second thing is he gives us grace and that doesn't mean salvation grace.

It's talking about growing from grace to grace. In other words, he gives us the ability to grow Through life through time as things happen. Sometimes the bad things that happen help us grow the most but when they do happen We need a little more grace and he gives it to us when we need it and as we need it the third thing is peace and Obviously the peace that we have is because we're joined to him and what's interesting is the Greek word peace comes from the root word I row which means to join so the only peace we really have is because we're joined to Jesus Christ and Then the fourth thing was faith.

He gives us Jesus's faith, right? We already know that we've talked about that many times haven't we and then the fifth thing is love. He gives us this agape love which is different than the world's love.

It's a love that has nothing to do with the object that you're loving it all comes from your own heart. So that thing that you're loving can treat you bad or it can treat you good, but you still love it.

If it's agape only born-again people can have agape love and we looked in detail at that Towards the end of the sermon last Sunday all right, and then The sixth thing we noticed there was called hope and we find that in verse 5.

Hope, the Rapture, and Hearing the Gospel

So why don't we pick it up there about verse 5? Colossians chapter 1 verse 5. Let's pray first Lord. We just thank you for the service today. We thank you for every single one of us that you brought together today.

We pray for those who couldn't be with us and and ask you to be with them help them if they're ill or have hurt Themselves that they'll grow in strength and Healing and Lord watch over us during this time that we might learn what you want us to learn in Jesus name.

Amen. So there in Colossians 1 verse 5 it says for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven where have you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel and that word hope. It means a joyous anticipation of a future event.

That you expect to happen the meaning of the English word has changed through the years and now really when we use the word hope it's kind of a negative word, but Back in the 1600s. It was a very positive word full of expectation and that's the way the Greek word Is what it means here in this passage.

So this hope that he gives us I think it's interesting that it defines it further. It says for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. One of the greatest uses of the word hope in the New Testament has to do with the second coming of Jesus Christ and The Rapture and so that's one of our great hopes and this may very well be a reference of that that within every believer.

For every generation since the time of the Apostle Paul for 2 ,000 years each believer has believed that the Rapture could happen in their Lifetime, it's been the great. Hope I remember my grandmother.

We called her Nana, but she was an amazing person wonderful Christian, but she said I'm not gonna die I'm gonna go up in the Rapture, but she didn't quite make it but so now now we think we will and somebody will there will be a generation where we get it, right and I'm depending on Brother Bill in our Sunday school class to get that right for us.

So we know when it's happening and we know that it's our generation. So keep working at it brother bill. We're getting close and it may well be our generation. So that's the hope probably that's talking about there in verse 5 but then notice it towards the end of that verse 5 it mentions another one.

It's the seventh thing that he gives us and all these are things that he gives us the moment that he saves us. It says where have you heard this hope that you heard? Before in the word of the truth of the gospel.

So the sixth or the seventh thing that he gives us which is quite miraculous is he gives us ears that hear. For the first time in our life we hear with understanding that Jesus is our Messiah and we get it and that's a that's a gift the Holy Spirit gives us is hearing the ability to hear and Funny thing about this word in the Greek.

It literally means to hear already. So it's like once you get it, you already have it. You don't have to grow in that ability. You can hear God's words from the moment you're saved for the rest of your life for rest of all eternity future to.

Which is a strange word if you think about it phrase I should say, all right, so The hearing part. It doesn't just mean that you hear it with the organ on the side of your head called your ear. That's not exactly what the Greek word means.

It means to hear with understanding. So you hear it before the first time you understand it. That's a gift. That's that's a gift from God and we didn't have it one day and the next day we had it and it's miraculous.

And so that gives us seven things now. I want to go a little deeper into this hearing part. So think about it because this is something again I think all preachers if you go back and read older preachers from different centuries.

Even they're all battling something and if you read their sermons you read the books they've written they're battling something there in their Generation in time. It is some big evil. It's coming over trying to bring disputation against the church or trying to refute the scriptures or something.

Or they're battling the Pope, you know saying that he can speak as God or whatever it is. They're battling something. I have my battles in my life and I've battled them from the time I was 24 years old started studying the scripture and Some of these things are still the main battles that I started back then and we're still fighting those some of those battles.

But one of the battles that I didn't recognize back then that I have come to recognize more in the last five or six or seven or eight years is The battle that the modern gospel has changed and it's not the true gospel that what most churches Tell you you have to do to be saved is the Bible doesn't tell you that and yet.

Yet they separate with one another over these list of things that each group thinks. It's a different list. So they separate and every one of those are effects none of them are the cause and they don't get that because the cause of salvation is the calling and One of the things that happens with the calling is you have to be given ears to hear now think about this.

What if the Holy Spirit went about to call each of us to Christ and he never gave us the ability to hear the call. Would that make any sense at all? Why would you call with no organ to hear it? You have to have a receiver in order for the transmission to make any sense would you agree with that and so the idea of the calling and the miraculous gift of hearing is Prevalent through the New Testament even in the earliest parts of the church in the book of Acts.

When the first gift of tongues and I hate it that in English we translated tongues. Because what it literal meaning is languages. It has never meant gibberish and nowhere in the scriptures. It mean gibberish.

It is a language in fact a known language of the world or it's not a gift of the Holy Spirit. But even when the true gift of tongues of languages was given in the book of Acts. If you read it carefully.

What it really says is it was the gift of hearing. Because it says that every man heard the word the gospel in his own language. That was part of the gift. So not only did the Men of God and women of God have the ability to speak in a language.

They'd never studied. But people could hear their gospel in their own language. Even though only one language was being spoken. Isn't that amazing? That's a big miracle, too. So you had you have two sides of the same miracle and I think the calling unto salvation has those two sides.

It has the call, but you have to have the ear to hear or you don't hear the call so it happens instantaneously. It's kind of like two sides of the same coin. The coin is worthless if it doesn't have a tail, right?

It's worthless. If it doesn't have a head has to have both in the head and the tail. Here are the calling and the hearing now. Let's think about this hearing because it's not talked about much nowadays the gospel that we hear today is the gospel that will everyone can be saved and God Jesus died for everyone and All you have to do is make a decision.

It doesn't talk about hearing anything at all and yet you go back and you read some of the great revivals in history some of the great preachers like Billy Sunday and and Moody and some of these people that went around both continents of Europe and the United States and preached Torrey.

I could sit here and name them I guess for a while. But what you'll read is very often. You would find people these things would last for two weeks or longer sometimes three weeks these revival meetings.

Which you don't see that today that's gone. Now. It was still here when I first got saved and now it's gone. That's how fast that went away. You don't have evangelists going around churches and staying for three weeks anymore now.

During the three weeks of this evangelistic meeting and you can read about them all through history people would come down to the altar that had been under the preaching and They would begin to beg God to give them the ability to hear.

Give me give me the ability to be saved. Give me the ability to to sense that you're calling me because they knew they couldn't just pray a prayer and get saved. Isn't that amazing now? You don't see that today.

Do you? The preachers were telling them now you need to you need to come down and spend time with God. They didn't tell him pray this little prayer come my heart to save me. Amen. They didn't tell him that is that you need to come down and spend time with God.

You need to get along with God and see if you can hear him because if you can't it's not real anyway. Wow things have changed. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 21. Let's see what the Bible says about this Ephesians 4 21.

If so be that you have heard him. See the word if that means everybody doesn't hear him. But if so be that you have heard him, this is should be Ephesians 4 21. Does that look right? Okay, if so be that you have heard him.

And have been taught by him as the scripture is in as the truth is in Jesus so Before we see what it's talking about here. It asked two questions if you have heard him and been taught by him. Now there's passage in the book of John where Jesus himself said that no man comes to me unless he's been taught by the father.

Think about that. You can't just pray and ask Jesus in your heart in the first place. The Bible says there's none that seek after him so people don't want to do it anyway. But even if they did want to do it, they couldn't just do that.

They can't just do that they have to have the Father through the Holy Spirit come to them into their mind and begin to open their Understanding and give them an ear that hears and and gain some teaching Before they will ever come to Christ.

Is that amazing? But that's what the Bible teaches now here again. It teaches in an Ephesians like it doesn't John if so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him. As the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning the former lifestyle you put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be Renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man.

Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness now think about this this fits perfectly with Roman chapter 8 verse 1 a. And B the two parts of that one verse are all carried within these four verses.

So Romans 8 one can say in one verse two two parts of it. What it took four verses to say here in Ephesians but it says the same thing and That is that first of all you have to be given the gift of hearing by the Holy Spirit and you have to be taught with understanding by the Holy Spirit about what the truth is about Jesus Christ and.

Then that same person that has that hearing and that understanding and that ability begins to understand. There's an old man and a new man and that your job is to put off the old man and Where the new man be the new man more moments of every day?

The old man is still there, but be the new man more moments of every day. It's right there, but you can't do it without hearing can you. And so that gift that we just the seventh one. We just talked about it's very important now look down.

Let's see. Look at first John 1 1. I'm gonna skip around a little bit here. You might want to keep your hand in Ephesians, though I see another Ephesians coming up here pretty quickly. First John 1 1.

That which was from the beginning Which you have what? Heard. You have to have had the in this again is the Greek word which means to hear with understanding. It doesn't just mean to hear it. It means to hear it with understanding.

So that which was from the beginning Which we have heard who's we? Christian people born-again people have the ear to hear they're the ones that have heard so that's who we is. Which we have heard and which we have seen with our eyes in which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life.

So in other words the only way we can know Jesus and sense him With our senses since he's in heaven and we're down here is by this miraculous gift that the Holy Spirit is to spirit gives us to hear him to hear his words, but also to behold him with our eyes of faith and To feel him with our heart kind of like we would with our hands if he were here physically and so forth.

So these are all gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now, let's go back to Ephesians. But this time let's go into chapter 1 and look at verse 11. This one is such a great teaching it give it just lays it out like it happens at the point of salvation.

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. So if we're in Christ, we have an inheritance. Don't we we own everything? Well, we own the whole universe. Because we're children of the King who owns the whole universe.

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated. According to the purpose of him which works all things after the counsel of his own will so the reason that we have obtained an inheritance is because God predetermined that we Individually and as a group meaning the elect Would be the ones who would gain this inheritance.

It's been predetermined predestined by Sovereign God verse 11 says. And it goes on in verse 12. Why do we receive this inheritance because we were predestined to receive it, but why else do we receive it?

So that we would bring praise to God's glory. Who first trusted in Christ those of us who first? Trusted in Christ from the Apostles all the way on out to us at the what I think probably the end of the age, right?

Those of us who have trusted in Christ bring glory to God. Why is that because we're part of a fallen race and the entire race should have gone to hell because it chose to and God plucked some of us out of the fire and Saved us and changed us in front of the world where the world can see the change and that brings glory to God.

But who are these people that were predestinated and who also Bring praise to his glory. Who are these people look at verse 13 in Whom also you trusted? See it see it talked about at the end of verse 12 those who first trusted in Christ.

Well, you think about it. Some of them actually saw him didn't they and walked with him for three years. John got to lay his head on his breast and sleep on the chest of the Savior. Well, yeah, he believed in him.

That's good, isn't it? But what about those of us who have never seen him and we love him and believe in him? There's a special commendation for us in the Bible and. So it refers to people like John and Peter and and even Paul at the end of verse 12 those who first trusted in Christ and now it talks about the rest of us who trusted some 2 ,000 years later, maybe you're all in between in whom you also trusted, but how did we trust?

After we heard you see you have to have the hearing which is a gift of the Holy Spirit before you can do anything. So by the time you do something you've already been regenerated. That's why salvation is not by works of righteousness Which we do one of which would be believing that is a work of righteousness.

It doesn't save us. It is an effect of the salvation. It's it comes with it. I won't even say it's an effect. Belief comes with it at that moment when God gives us 33 some-odd things obviously in order for us to believe we have to first have the ability to hear so the hearing comes before the believing and the hearing is part of the Regenerative work regenerative work of the Holy Spirit.

Actually, I think what's fascinating I've spent great hours of time studying verses 13 14 and following and tried to Analyze it almost like you would when you were a kid in school having to having to what do you call it when you structure the sentences when you Diagram sentences, you know, you look at every little word and everything.

It's saying here and what I found interesting about it. It does give a structure like this happens and then this happens and this happens and then this happens. But then when you look at the Greek So many of these verbs are in the aorist which means just boom.

It was there that it totally aorist always means with without regard to time. That's what it means so even though Intellectually, we study this as a sequence of events in reality it was. You didn't have it and then you have it.

Do you get that? That's how salvation works. You didn't have it and then The Holy Spirit puts it on you and you have it so it's not really a sequence. But in order for us to logically think of things we logically since we live on a timeline.

We're not eternal like God. We live on a timeline. For us it's logical that if you have to believe the gospel to be saved. You certainly have to hear it before you can believe it in the Bible says no man's looking for it and no man can understand It so God has to perform a miracle and he opens our ears.

So in whom you trusted after that you heard the word of truth. The gospel of your of your salvation this gift of hearing is huge. And it's only the seventh one in our list and Colossians but it's huge because in our logical way of thinking you can't possibly be saved until this happens and Once it does happen.

Everything falls into place. So look how it reads after you believed in him you trusted in Christ. After that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation. Remember the word gospel means the good news.

So let's reread it in whom you trusted. After you heard the word of truth the good news of your salvation. In whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So you see a sequence you hear you believe and you're sealed.

And those things do happen, but they don't really happen as a sequence they happen All at once as a gift from God. Verse 14 says which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession and to the praise of his glory.

So when you understand salvation as it's taught in the scripture, it's all miraculous. It happens as a gift that God gives us. The Bible says God never repents of his gifts. Which means he never changes his mind and takes a gift away from anyone so you cannot lose your salvation.

It just is taught so many ways probably hundreds of ways in the scripture that truth is taught but the thing that fools people is they see people come to church and go for a few weeks or months and then quit and Go back to an ungodly life and they say well they lost their salvation.

So they're trusting their observance rather than what the scripture says. And scripture says that doesn't happen but their eyes thinks they their eyes think they saw that happen. So they trust their experience and we're in the age of experience.

That's why I call us Bapto Catholics Pinto Catholics Presbyterian Catholics, it's because the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Church was the strongest church in the world at one time. The church that the book of Romans was written to strongest church in the world and yet look at it now.

It's probably the biggest cult group in the world now. Because so many things have been added. Human things added to what was truth and now it's watered down to such an extent that if you're part of that group.

It's really really difficult to determine what's authoritative and what's not and So as that happens to every denomination, I'm not picking on the Roman Catholics the Baptists are going through it right now.

Some Presbyterian groups Lutheran groups have gone in Methodist groups went through it 50 75 80 100 years ago and The Baptists are in the end stages of this cancer at this very time many of them every church is different though.

So you can't pick on every little independent church church, but as a group. Everything is going towards mannishness. And when you go through mannishness Mannishness you move away from miraculous events like the calling and of the Holy Spirit who brings to us.

These seven things we've already discussed and a whole bunch more all in a nanosecond of time and it's all his work. And it's all what he does to you. Not what you did for God and that's what saved you is what he did for you and to you and it just moves away.

From that to focusing on the things that you respond with and said, oh, that's what saved you and so the hearing. If you want to say that believing is what saves you then what what do you do with this idea that hearing has to come?

First though. So, oh, wait a minute. So so I have to hear to be saved. So why don't we start a church group that says we're hearers. Right, we start our own group we're here's and that's all that counts if you're a believer.

You're not part of us because that's not what saves you if you repented that's not what saves you. You're not in our group. We're hearers so we're the church of the big ear the church of the ear and You have to join us or you can't be saved.

You see how ridiculous that is and that's what we do so which is is the hearing or the believing that saves you or. Is it the repenting or is it the getting baptized or is it the Walking not in the flesh, but after the spirit which of that is it that saves you.

None of it saves you because you can't Do is I should put it this way? Which of those do you have to do to be saved. See if you praise it that way it becomes clear none of it because. You don't get saved by doing.

You do because you have already been saved and that's always been the truth, but the Baptist are moving away from it. Not so much when I first was saved they were still preaching it pretty pretty much, right?

So this has happened in my lifetime and it's a battle that I fight and I know some other preachers do too. So the hearing is hugely important and it yet it is a gift of the Holy Spirit that he brings to us at our calling when he Regenerates us turn to Romans chapter 10 verse 13.

Let's see if we see any further evidence of this idea of how important the gift of hearing is when he gives that to us. It's fascinating to me that he gives us the gift of hearing, but he also gives us the gift of Christ's faith Jesus's faith and those two together.

Give us the ability then to have our own belief and repentance. So we end up doing those things, but it's not the doing that saved us. We were already saved before we did it. Therefore we get no glory.

We get no glory for it. God gets all the glory and that's how the gospel truly was written Romans chapter 10 verse 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved so what if someone asked you what I have to do to be saved and As I myself did so many times as a young Christian before I understood some of these things we're talking about today I would lead people to Romans chapter 10 verse 13.

I'd say do that. That's what I would use. So let's look at it for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now certainly that's something you could do to be saved. Don't you think sounds like it doesn't it?

And we would pluck that verse out and stick it on cards and memorize them and use it and we would never look at the Rest of the verses right after it. So let's look at them. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

How then shall they call on the Lord in whom they have not believed? Oh Wait a minute. Maybe I should have said the thing you have to do is believe. I Said I got the wrong verse. Sorry, it's believe. Oh wait.

Let's keep reading and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Whoops. Now we're back to the church of the ear. We're the group that believes you got here to be saved. You see it's just a little it's a group of list of things That happen when you are saved.

It's not what you do to get saved. That you could pick any one of them if you want to start a cult group pick any one of them or pick a group of them and you got your own cult group and it'll be different than the one next door and They all have the name Christian on the side.

How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher? Uh-oh. Now we can start the group of David Mitchell. Because he is the preacher that shows people how to be saved.

I am of Paul. I am of Apollos right same church has gone through the same problem for 2 ,000 years. But look at verse 15 and how shall they preach except they be sent as it's written. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.

So now we see that the true person who gets the glory is the one who sent the preacher. Who is that? That's Jesus. He chose him and sent him but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah Said Lord who has believed our report.

So then faith cometh by hearing you say I appreciate sermon a long time ago. Call what comes first the faith or the hearing, you know and hearing has to be what comes first. It's a direct gift of the Holy Spirit at the moment of regeneration.

So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Now you hear again, it's almost like the same Thing if you're going to call someone and let's say you use the scripture to call them with.

Let's say you use what's in this Bible to call someone to Christ. You still have to give them the gift of hearing or understanding, don't you? And so we can see how logical this is that this is exactly how the Lord did it.

So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You cannot Show salvation in Scripture other than by two things that have to always be present and neither one of them are you or me or?

Man, it's not mannish at all. It is the Word of God. That's the water and the Spirit of God. That's the Holy Spirit who calls us you have to have the water and the Spirit you have to have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit and that's how the calling takes place.

But one of the things he does he gives us hearing at the same time He gives us shows us the word. He gives us the hearing and then he speaks the word and it makes sense for the first time in our life.

That's how salvation works, but I say have they not heard? Yes, barely their sound went out into all the earth. Have you ever had someone say well It's not fair because these people over in the darkest parts of Africa never hear the gospel and It's not fair if God sends them to hell.

Have you heard that before? But what does the scripture say now this is written in the first century. This this was actually written the first 100 years of Christianity 2 ,000 years ago. It says but I say have they not heard who's they?

Yes, barely their sound went into all the earth and their words and to the ends of the world. So the gospel, you know when missionaries went into Africa they found churches already there. Because the gospel went there before it went here.

The gospel went there with the Ethiopian eunuch and He preached the gospel all over Africa. They all heard it and you know what they did. They turned away from it started worshiping rocks and trees and saying that God was in the tree.

God was in the rock God's in the animals and they worshiped animals and things and. And and they taught their kids to do that and they taught their kids to do it. And that's where we found them when the missionaries went back, but the gospel had already been there.

It's just they rejected it so God is the person who tries to argue that God is not fair. That is probably a pretty unfair argument. Don't you think? All right. Look at Acts chapter 22 with me if you would in verse 6 and it came to pass.

That is my that is I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus. About noon. So now we see the greatest Christian who ever lived the one who had the problem of doing that which I don't want to do.

And not doing that which I want to do and he said Oh wretched man that I am who will Deliver me from this body of this death. Thanks be to Jesus Christ our Lord that man. This same man who said there's no condemnation for me though because I'm in Christ and I'm walking according spirit.