July 6, 2025; Sunday Evening Worship

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Matthew 28:18-20
• Hymn — All Authority and Power (#424)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Heidelberg Catechism — Lord's Day 18, Questions 46–48
• Hymn — As the Deer (#42B)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Romans 8:1-4
• Sermon
• Hymn — And Can It Be That I Should Gain (#431)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

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Sermon Title: No Condemnation — Freedom from Sin's Guilt and Power

Scripture: Romans 8:1-4

I. How Can There Be No Condemnation Given the Continued Struggle with Sin?

A. The thesis of Romans 8:1 — "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"

1. "Condemnation" is a legal term — to be pronounced guilty of breaking a law
2. Romans 3 establishes that all are guilty before God; even one sin earns infinite condemnation before an infinitely holy God
3. Romans 8 comes on the heels of chapter 7, where Paul describes the believer's ongoing struggle with sin — raising the question: could that struggle jeopardize justification?

B. The answer: a new operative power — Romans 8:2

1. "The law of the Spirit of life" = the powerful, operative working of the Holy Spirit in the believer
2. By nature, sin is the operative power of the heart — a cruel master with full control
3. In Christ, the believer is set free not only from the guilt of sin but from the power of sin
4. The Holy Spirit is the new operative power; sin is no longer master
5. The presence of sin remains until death and glory, but its dominion is broken
6. The good news of justification would be undermined if it were not accompanied by freedom from sin's power through the Spirit

II. How Is This New Freedom and Power in the Spirit Made Possible?

A. What the law could not do — Romans 8:3a

1. The moral law reveals sin (Romans 7:7) and can restrain some sin, but also inflames it
2. The law's weakness is not in the law itself but in our sinful flesh — it cannot produce the righteousness God requires
3. Something must be done that only God can do

B. What God accomplished by sending his Son — Romans 8:3b

1. The Son was sent "in the likeness of sinful flesh" — true human nature with all the weakness of our flesh, yet without sin; the sinless second Adam
2. John Murray: the Father sent the Son "in a manner that brought him into the closest relation to sinful humanity that it was possible for him to come without becoming himself sinful"
3. The Son was sent "for sin" — sin was his singular enemy, the sole focus of his work
4. In his perfect life and substitutionary death, the Father condemned sin in the flesh of the Son
5. Robert Haldane: "The Father condemns the Son of his love that he may absolve the children of wrath"
6. Christ's sinless life also vanquished sin as power — he showed that sin had no dominion over human flesh, breaking its enslaving hold

III. So What? How Does This Apply to the Believer?

A. The purpose clause of Romans 8:4 — "in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us"

1. Three uses of the preposition "in" tie the passage together:
   • "In Christ Jesus" (v. 1) — no condemnation
   • "In Christ Jesus" (v. 2) — set free by the Spirit
   • "In us" (v. 4) — the law's righteous requirement fulfilled
2. The key doctrine: union with Christ — all that belongs to Christ flows to his people by faith
3. Christ kept the law perfectly, died for it, and earned its promised life for others; all of this is credited to the believer

B. Practical confidence for the believer walking according to the Spirit

1. There is no condemnation now or ever for those in Christ — no further justification to earn
2. The struggle with sin remains, but it is fought from a position of freedom, not slavery
3. The Holy Spirit is the believer's indwelling helper, enlivening and energizing the walk of faith
4. "Ephesians 2:10 — "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand"
5. Closing application drawn from the hymn And Can It Be: "No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in him, is mine"