PASTOR'S MESSAGE

 

No Condemnation

Romans 8:1-10 

Two servicemen from the gas company, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood.  They parked their truck at the end of the alley and worked their way to the other end.  At the last house, a woman looking out her kitchen window watched the two men as they checked her gas meter.  Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger coworker to a foot race down the alley back to the truck to prove that an older guy could outrun a younger one.  As they came running up to the truck, they realized that the lady from the last house was huffing and puffing right behind them.  They stopped and asked her what was wrong.  Gasping for breath, she replied, “When I see two gas men running as hard as you two are, I figured I’d better run too!”

                I guess she thought there was a gas leak, and maybe the whole place was going to explode.  At any rate, she was getting out of there as fast as she could, which is good advice when we see danger coming – run away to safety.  Such is the main purpose of the Holy Law of God – to warn us of the dangers of sin and temptation and its consequences, death and condemnation, so that we can run away to safety.  The only problem is that our deadly enemy, Satan tries to misuse the Law for a different purpose, in order to deceive us.  He confuses us into thinking that the Law is the means of our salvation, that by working harder and harder as keeping and obeying it, we can somehow save ourselves.  But, my friends, the Law was never designed to do that!

            That’s what the Apostle Paul was getting at in our text for today, when he said that, “the law was powerless, in that it was weakened by the sinful nature.”  As a matter of fact, what he literally said was that it is IMPOSSIBLE for the Law to save us.  Not because there’s anything wrong with the Law, but because of the weakness of our human flesh.  For you see, the word ‘weakness’ is the Greek word for ‘sickness’ and that’s what original sin is – a disease of sinful rebellion that clings to our human nature.  As Article II of the Augsburg Confession puts it:  “All men are full of evil lust and inclinations from their mother’s wombs and are unable by nature to have true fear of God and true faith in God.  Moreover, this inborn sickness and hereditary sin is truly sin and condemns to the eternal wrath of God all those who are not born again through Baptism and the Holy Spirit.”

            In other words, the problem is not in the Law of God, it’s in you and me.  The Russian writer P. D. Ouspensky, in his novel The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin, tells the story of a man who wants to amend the mistakes of his life by living it over again.  Ivan goes to a magician, who reluctantly complies with his wishes but warns that nothing will be different.  Ivan is then allowed to watch, as if in a movie, how he would live his life over.  He is shocked to see himself making the same mistakes, down to the smallest detail.  He cries out in desperation, “What then am I to do?”  The magician responds, “In order to change anything, you must change yourself inside.” 

However, because of the weakness of our sinful flesh, we are powerless to change ourselves for the better.  And the Law can’t help us their either.  For although it is a powerful gift of God, and can make us do things, either out of fear or guilt, it cannot change us on the inside.  It cannot make us new people.  Only the Gospel can do that.  To be sure, the Law can point out, provoke, and condemn sin, but it cannot overcome or remove it.  All it can do is drive us in repentance to the Gospel, for that’s what it was designed to do.

Rev. Dean Nadasdy says that he once saw a spoof on the game show “Let’s Make a Deal,” where no matter what door the contestants chose, it always had the same thing behind it –namely, something to do with death, either a cemetery plot, a grave stone, a two-column obituary, a casket and so forth.  He says that, “It was a vivid reminder of the reality of death as the consequence of sin.”  Because of our stubborn, rebellious nature as well as our wicked, disobedient acts in thought, word and deed, no matter what door we open death is lurking behind it.  Not just physical death, but worst of all eternal death in hell, the judgment of God’s condemnation against our sin.

Thankfully, that’s where the Gospel steps in and rescues us, by bringing us the Good News of Jesus Christ our Savior.  To me one of the most beautiful Gospel verses in all of Scripture is the opening verse of our text:  “THEREFORE, THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS!”  The word ‘condemnation’ is actually a legal term that refers not to the verdict, but the punishment for the crime, the legal servitude that is meted out against the perpetrator, which in this case is the prison cell of death and hell that you and I deserve.  But as Paul says, thanks to Jesus Christ there is no more of that.

Amazingly enough, the word ‘no’ actually means: ‘not one thing.’  We would say, “Not one stinking thing can condemn us any more, because Jesus took it all away.”  In fact, the word can refer to something that is ‘good for nothing.’  And although that’s what you and I were like by nature, because of our sinful flesh.  As Paul would put it, now we are good for something – we have been declared good, righteous and holy in God’s sight.  And it is our sin, guilt and shame that are good for nothing, which is why God has tossed them out and disposed of them through Jesus Christ our Savior.

And how did He do that?  Well, as St. Paul says:  “GOD SENT HIS OWN SON IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL MAN TO BE A SIN OFFERING.  AND SO HE CONDEMNED SIN IN SINFUL MAN.”  Now in the Old Testament, the sin offering was a young bull, without defect, that was slaughtered by the priest.  He would dip his finger in its blood, and spatter it seven times in front of the curtain in the sanctuary to cleanse the people of their sin.  The animal itself was to be burned on the altar as a sacrificial offering, and its meat was to be eaten by the priest.  But the incredible thing is, that if anyone or anything touched the mean, it automatically made them holy.

Dear friends, that’s precisely what Jesus did that very first Lenten season – He became a sin offering for us by sprinkling His holy, precious blood at the sanctuary of the cross, to cleanse us of our sin and take away our guilt.  And He bestows all of that upon us in the Word and in the Sacraments.  For in Baptism and Holy Communion, He Himself comes to us personally and touches us with forgiveness and salvation, which automatically makes us holy.   That is the sin offering that, as our text says, ‘condemned sin in sinful man.’  As a matter of fact, what it actually says is that, “God condemned sin in the flesh,” meaning: in Jesus’ flesh, that is, in His body on the cross.  In other words, instead of condemning us, God condemned our sin.  He put it into prison, locked up the door and threw away the key forever, so that our sin cannot bother or harass us any longer.  And that’s why there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You know, maybe the most beautiful thing about that is the way that St. Paul phrased it in the Greek.  You see, in Greek word order is very important.  If you want to emphasize something, you put it first in the sentence.  And in this particular sentence, the word that is first is the word ‘no.’  Paul does that, because he wants to drive home to us the absolute truth of the Gospel that there is NO condemnation against us.  NO judgment or punishment remains.  NO sin is held against us anymore, which means that there is NO fear, NO death and NO hell for those who are in Christ Jesus.  And we can believe, because there is NO doubt!

Brothers and sisters, that’s why instead of relying upon the Law to save us, or looking to ourselves for vindication, we need to daily turn to Jesus Christ in humble repentance and faith, for only He can set us free.  As St. Paul said in our text:  “THROUGH CHRIST JESUS THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE SET ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.”  No, the Law cannot help us.  Only Jesus Christ can set us free.  And the word ‘set free’ is the verb that means: ‘to liberate.’  It was used for clearing an entryway of obstacles, removing any barriers in front of the door to give free passage.  And only Jesus can do that.  He’s the only one, who can clear away the barriers of our sin and guilt and grant us free passage into God’s heavenly kingdom.  And the only way we can receive that, is not by working or trying harder, but simply as a free gift by faith in His name.

In the book Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan depicts the scene of a Christian fleeing from the world with a large bundle resting on his shoulders.  He arrives at a hilltop higher than the surrounding area, and on that hill there stands a cross.  Below the hill there is a grave, and as the Christian comes to the top of the hill with his heavy burden, the load is suddenly released from his shoulders, drops to the ground, rolls down the hill, and disappears into the empty grave.

It may be that when Bunyan wrote that passage, he had the words of our text in mind, for that is certainly what they depict – NO condemnation for the Christian, because of Jesus’ saving cross and empty tomb.  No matter what heavy burden of guilt is resting upon your shoulders today, no matter what terrible sin is eating away at your conscience, through Jesus’ blood it has fallen away, rolled down the hill and disappeared into His empty grave.  You can let go of it and be at peace by faith in Him.  May that comfort your heart and soul, now and forevermore.  Amen.

 

 

         

                              

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