Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. As believers in Christ, we have a future beyond the reach of the bill collector, beyond the reach of our failures and sins, a future safe in the hands of God who guarantees that for believers there is no condemnation ahead in the life to come.

From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Today, more of a series from Romans 8 on the blessings we've been given as children of an awesome God. You have a divine calling, a calling made sure with this promise: believers will never face condemnation.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Your Bible is open. If you were to read this in the Greek text as I did yesterday, at least the opening lines, you'd discover that the word "no," *outhen*, is the very first word of the chapter. Paul is emphasizing that. He begins this chapter by saying no condemnation to those who are in Christ. No condemnation, none.

Let me give you some news. If you are in Christ, that means that your sin nature is no longer condemned by God, because there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. What it means is that your past sins no longer condemn you, because God has acquitted you of all crimes and you're covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That means that the future sins that you haven't committed yet, those future sins, are also something you've received legal acquittal from, because you are in Christ and there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.

You say, "Oh, Pastor Lutzer, that's unbelievable." Let me ask you a question: how many of your sins were future when Christ died? The answer, of course, is all of them. All of them were future when He died. He died 2,000 years ago. When Jesus died, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, by one offering He put away sin forever. Therefore, there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. You are out of range of the wrath and the anger of God because you are in Christ Jesus.

Now, some of you say, "Oh, Pastor Lutzer, don't preach that because that's dangerous. Because there's going to be somebody who's going to say, 'Isn't that nice? You get in Christ and then you can live however you like.'" If you're thinking that, I have two responses. First, thank you for thinking that, because that means I've actually preached the gospel and I've preached grace. That's proof. The natural mind always says, "Oh, well that means," like somebody told me, "So you're teaching that you can just believe on Jesus and then live however you like." All right, and I say, "Praise God, he's understood the gospel."

The natural mind always goes there. That's the first thing I want to say is thank you. I hope you were thinking that. The second thing I'd like to say is that if you are looking for an out for yourself, saying that you can live however you like, very probably you are not in Christ, but you are still in Adam, because people who are in Christ don't think that way.

Visualize, for example, a young woman and she is engaged to a man who has promised her—he's promised her—that he would marry her no matter what she did. Does she say, "Hey, you know, he gave me a ring and I know that he's a person of integrity, and he promised me that he would marry me no matter what I did, so now that gives me permission to sleep around"? I suppose that's happened, but that's not the normal response. God does not save us in order that we might please ourselves. He gives us a nature that desires now to please Him.

So you see the Apostle Paul here is saying there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Could I say also that he is saying there is no obligation to those who are in Christ? I'm in verse 2. He says in verse 2, "For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ from the law of sin and death." In the process, Paul is saying this: look, he's going to contrast in the next verses Adam—those who are in Adam—and those who are in Christ. That's what's going to follow. But what he's saying is that the law of sin and death keeps dragging you down. If you are in Adam, you are subject to the law of sin and death.

That means that no matter how physically alive you are, you are disconnected from God. There is no personal relationship with God. Furthermore, there is within you a certain kind of emptiness and death, and you will love yourself always more than you love God. That's true of everybody who is in Adam. Paul is going to say, "And if you're in Adam, you cannot, you cannot please God."

But he says that there is another law, and here he's talking about a principle. There is another law, he says, and that is the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus that frees me from the law of sin and death. Gravity, we know, always drags things down. If I were to drop my Bible, gravity would make sure that it falls. But there is another law, and that is the law of my hand and my arm that is right now stronger than the law of gravity as it relates to this Bible. Tuesday, God willing, I will be flying to Dallas, Texas, and the law of the plane is going to supersede the law of gravity. I hope that that'll be true all the way to Dallas.

You see what God is saying is that when you are in Christ, there is a new law that delivers you from all of the things that the folks who are in Adam have to do. You do not have to give in to the devil. You do not have to fall into the same temptation over and over again. There are resources that have been given to you.

Now, it is true that when we are Christians, God disciplines us and deals with us. When the sons of Noah were there in the ark, did that mean that they were perfect? No. Did that mean that they always got along? No. They probably had to ask forgiveness for themselves and perhaps in relationship to their father. It could well be that even God was disciplining them in the ark, but they were saved from the wrath of God. They were saved so far as God's anger was concerned. We could say that in that ark there was no condemnation, because they were there by God's good hand.

And so the Apostle Paul says that there is now another principle that enables us to live differently, but we're all living within the ark. There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. We have a brand new identity. The implications are overwhelming. We're going to learn in this series of messages that because you are in Christ, you're going to inherit everything that Jesus has. It is going to boggle your mind. You're going to say, "This is too good to be true."

Notice also that we have a new focus. Actually, verses 3 and 4 explain, by the way, why we are free from the law of sin and death, because God did through Christ what the law couldn't do. That's basically verses 3 and 4. But you'll notice in verse 5, those who live according to the flesh—and the flesh now isn't the body. There's nothing wrong with the body. The body is neutral. I can take this pen out of my pocket and I can write a check and help somebody, or I can write a very awful letter and destroy somebody. The pen is neutral; the body is neutral.

The flesh has a reference to that old nature, the principle, the propensity that you and I have to satisfy all of our lusts and desires outside of the purity and the holiness of God and His will. So what he's saying is that all those who are in Adam are in the flesh. For those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set your mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. This is striking. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, and it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Wow.

What he's saying is as long as you're in Adam and you've never received Christ as Savior, so that you are in Christ, you absolutely can't please God even though you may do many good things. Because good things done by human beings are tainted still with sin and wrong motives, those who are in Adam, in the flesh, cannot please God.

Well, how do you begin to set your mind on the spiritual things? You can't do that unless God creates a new nature within you to give you the desire to do it. We are all basically desire-driven. No question about that. We do ultimately what we think is best for us, and that may be true of Christians and non-Christians. That's a separate topic, actually, except to say this: that the people who are in Adam will always choose for themselves. They may use God, but they will never really love God, because God has to create that love within our hearts. We do not have it naturally.

Do you see, by the way, how utterly foolish it is for someone to think that they are a Christian simply because they go to church? You talk to somebody and you say, "Now are you a Christian?" and they'll say, "Oh yeah, I attend such and such a church and we go there." Well, that's interesting. So that makes you a Christian? How does going to church change your desires so that you are no longer focused on the flesh, but focused on the things of the Spirit? It can't do it. Now, we go to church so that we might learn how to be in Christ and to grow in Christ, but simply going to church doesn't do it. It would be like a tiger who wakes up some morning and says, "From now on, I'm not going to love meat anymore. I am going to decide that I am going to love hay."

Dave McAllister: I hope all of us understand that the transformation that Jesus Christ seeks to make in us is radical. But at the same time, we are bogged down by the cares of this world and by the continuing impulses of the flesh. That's why we're making available for you a book by Jerry Bridges entitled *The Pursuit of Holiness*. Let me mention some of the chapter titles. Number one: "Holiness is for You." Indeed, holiness is for every Christian. Another chapter on the "Holiness of God." "Holiness is Not an Option." The Bible says that without holiness we will not see the Lord. So what does that mean?

All of these questions and many more are answered in this resource that we are making available for a gift of any amount. Remember the title of the book, *The Pursuit of Holiness* by Jerry Bridges. It will help you as you run the journey of life, all the way to the finish line. Erwin Lutzer with more of "You Have a Divine Calling," the first in an eight-part series on "Children of an Awesome God." Next time, more about our calling to live a new life in Christ.

What did God mean when He said, "Be ye holy as I am holy," and what is holiness anyway? These are questions Jerry Bridges answers in his book, *The Pursuit of Holiness*. This book is our gift to you when you give a gift of any amount to support Running to Win. Just call us at 1-800-215-5001. That's 1-800-215-5001. Online go to offerrtw.com. That's offerrtw.com. Or write to Running to Win, Moody Church, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Ask about *The Pursuit of Holiness*. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is a ministry of the Moody Church.