Romans 8:2 Explained — Free from the Law of Sin and Death

Welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a 30-minute walk through the scriptures teaching in-depth Bible truths that change people's lives. Now here's your host, Les Feldick. Okay, good again to have another opportunity to put out another 30-minute program, and fortunately people still think they go rather quickly, and I guess that's a good indication. But for those of you tuning in, maybe catching us for the first time, we are just an informal Bible study. We are not denominationally connected. We have no one underwriting us. I'm looking over the group, and I imagine we have all kinds of different denominations represented here even today, and all our purpose and intent is to get people to study their own Bible. You may not always agree with me. You don't have to. You can certainly disagree with some of my approaches to Scripture, and still be a believer, and still not be in danger of hellfire or anything like that. But the reason I like to pass it on is because this book has become so thrilling to my own heart after I realized some of the things that I hadn't ever been taught, and that is God's dealing especially with the nation of Israel, and then how when He turned to the Gentiles, we just have a whole different approach. And once you see that, then this book just gets so exciting, and it's so easy to comprehend. So anyway, that's all we're attempting to do. As I said in the last program, we don't attempt to make any profit from anything we do. The Lord has seen fit so far to supply all our needs, and we're branching out. We just started on a Columbus, Ohio station last Sunday, and we trust that by God's grace as more opportunities present themselves, we'll be reaching out to more and more people. We again like to always remind our listeners how much we appreciate your letters, your phone calls. In fact I had the question come up the other day, and I'm going to answer it on the program because I know a lot of people wonder. A gentleman asked me, he said, now when I send this letter to Lesfeldic Ministries, and if I enclose the check, he said, do you see the letter that I write, or does it just go to some secretary? Now that's a good question, and I'm glad people ask it. I personally open every single letter that comes, personally. I read every letter that comes, personally. And then after we have collected the checks for several days, then I take them up to our bookkeeper on Monday night, who is in our telegraph class, and we just hand the checks to her then. But yes, I read every little note, and I thrill at every one of them. So don't ever hesitate writing to us thinking that it will not get to me. It certainly does. All right, again we got to remind you that the little books are available, the videotapes are available. You just call us on the 800 number, or drop us a line, and we'll be more than happy to help you get them. And again, we're so thrilled when people order several of these just for a Sunday School class, for a Bible study, and what have you. And again, we don't attempt to make anything on the books, or on the tapes. We can just cover our costs, that's all we're hoping to do. Now then, I guess we're ready to get right back in where we left off, when we only got past really one word in chapter 8, verse 1, and that was therefore. And I just told the people while we were waiting, I guess I'm either long-winded or exhaustive, one or the other. But anyway, we trust that we're being exhaustive, because none of this can be just glossed over and taken lightly. And this is the whole idea of Bible study, is to read carefully. So many people just read it, you know, well I've read my Bible today. Well that's not the way to do it. You read it carefully. In fact, whenever I answer a question that comes in the mail, I'll answer it with the Scripture, and I'll say, but now read it carefully. If you're just going to read it to be reading it, you're not going to get what I'm trying to tell you. And the same way with this whole chapter of Romans 8, we're going to take it slowly and carefully, because like I already said in the last program, this chapter is the gemstone of the Book of Romans, and the Book of Romans is the gemstone of the Bible. That's the way I like to look at it. Now as you continue on in verse 1, verse 2, "...there is therefore now no condemnation." Now you remember back in John's Gospel, what did Jesus say? He that hath the Son hath life, he who hath not the Son hath not life, and what is already resting on him? Condemnation. See? Condemnation rests upon every son of Adam. We're born sinners, and we never can forget that, that we are born into the Adamic race sinners. That's what we've been looking at for these previous several chapters, and these several months now of teaching in Romans, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are all sons of Adam. We are all sinners, and under condemnation. But now the Scripture says there is no condemnation. What a difference! Well what made the difference? The Gospel. As I stated on the program several months ago, too often times I think evangelical Christians and our pastors and our evangelists and so forth, we have put cliches in place of the Gospel. Do you remember the one I used was probably most preeminent, and is used the most, is taking Jesus into your heart? How many times haven't we heard an evangelist or a preacher say, just come and take Jesus into your heart? And I said, then that's not the Gospel. Then lo and behold, Alice over here gave me a little book the other day. See that's my library. When people give me books I read them and get them back. I don't have a library. A lady one time walking out of the Macalester class said, ìOh Les, I'd love to see your library.î I said, ìEvelyn, I don't have a library.î She said, ìWhat ?î I said, ìNo, I don't have a library. I've got two or three books that I use a little bit, but other than that, no I don't have a library. But people send me books, and a gentleman from up here in northern Oklahoma sent me a whole box full the other day.î Bless his heart, I hope he's watching this program because I haven't had time to call him and tell him how much I appreciated these books, and I haven't even finished them all yet. But anyway, this condemnation. All mankind is under condemnation, but now once we are in Christ there is no condemnation. That's what the Book says. I didn't dream it up, but the Book says it. So there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Now we looked at that at the last program, and I think we covered that sufficiently. Now I'll probably raise the ire of a few listeners with my next comment, and that is, the rest of this verse does not belong there. Somebody is going to scream, ìOh, you're taking away from the Word of God.î No I'm not, because I noticed a long time ago that it doesn't really fit. Then I read, and now I think some Bibles even have it in their margin, that these words, ìWho walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,î do not belong in verse 1, but they are where they belong down in verse 4. And they're down there, and they belong there. You say, ìWell what are you talking about ?î Well just analyze it for a minute. I'm always almost screaming at people that salvation is faith plus nothing. No human energy, no human merit, it's faith plus nothing. Now if you leave these words in verse 1, what does that make me? It makes me a liar, because what does the Book say? If this is Scripture, and it isn't. All the earliest manuscripts do not have it. All the great Bible scholars will tell you the same thing. Why? ìThere is therefore no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.î What does that tell you? How did you get in Christ Jesus according to that? By not walking in the flesh, but walking in the Spirit. And listen, that is not what got us into the Body of Christ. So you just leave those words off as not apropos for verse 1, but now when we get down to verse 4, it's perfect. It's just exactly where they belong, and let's jump ahead to verse 4. 4. "...that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who because of verse 3, that God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin to take care of old Adam, condemned old Adam in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be filled in us, who because of verse 3, that we walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Do you see the difference? This is what we have to learn to do. You just analyze the Scriptures in the light of what all of Scripture teaches, and then you can see an error like this. How it's crept in I don't think anybody really knows, but they all agree that it's an error, that this should not be in verse 1. And of course my major premise is that then it makes it sound like we got in Christ by virtue of our walking, and we did not. Now let's go on to verse 2. 2. "...for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Now you remember when we were back in chapter 5, when we were looking at this word, law, I said you have to always according to the context, determine what law we are talking about. Sometimes the word law will be used as simply a fact of everyday living. In other words we speak of the Law of Gravity. It's just a fact of our living every day that what is up is going to fall down. We speak of the Law of Buoyancy, and that is a law that no man can ever supersede. I shouldn't say supersede, because that's what we do when we build ships. But no man can change the Law of Gravity. It's absolute, and the Law of Gravity is that if you can put something in the water that weighs less than the amount of water it pushes aside, it's going to float. It's a law, it's a fact of life. Now this word used here is in the same context. For the Law, the very fact of our everyday life is that the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me, or set me free from another fact of life, another established fundamental absolute, which was that the Law of Sin and Death was operating every day. It's just a fact of life that mankind is under the curse. Mankind is under the power and the control of the satanic powers. Now do you need a verse for that? I Corinthians chapter 4. I want these two on the screen fellas if you possibly can. II Corinthians chapter 4, verses 3-4, and this is exactly what I just said out of Romans chapter 8. II Corinthians 4, verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, and that's the world outside of us, going up and down in their busy lifestyle, they're lost. Next verse, verse 4. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not. Now do you see how plain that is? He hasn't blinded the minds of those who haven't joined the church. He hasn't blinded the minds of those who don't read their Bible. It doesn't say that. He has blinded the minds of those that will not believe. That's simple. So he hath blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine in unto them. Now that's what we are up against when we try to enlighten people. We try to bring them to that same joy of salvation that we enjoy, and it's just like water falling off the ducks back. Why? Because they're blinded by the powers of Satan, they see absolutely nothing to be gained, and so consequently they go on their way in total darkness. Come back to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8. So the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Now what do you have here? Well two facts of life. One is that God is able to come in and do an operation in our life that totally gives us a new outlook on life. It gives us hope for that eternity to come. It's a whole new ball game compared to the verse of being locked in to sin and death. Now do you remember the verse back in Romans chapter 6? We looked at it several weeks ago now. Come back and look at it again. I think that most people if they've had any Sunday school or Bible school experience at all have memorized this verse, and I hope you have. Romans 6 verse 23, "...for the wages of sin is death." Do you see how they're connected? Sin and death. But the other side of the coin is the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Isn't that a perfect comparison for what we see here in Romans chapter 8? That the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus, that fact of life that we can experience 7 days a week, totally sets us apart from that other fact of life which is sin and death. It's an everyday experience for the whole world that they're living in the midst of sin and death. The two are so tied together. And remember where did it all begin? When Adam ate, and just as soon as he ate, he sinned. And the minute he sinned, what came? Death. So sin and death have been tied together ever since Adam took that first bite, and there's only one remedy for it, and that is the Gospel. The Gospel that Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead. Oh my thoughts just came back. I was on the clich�s a little while ago, and I suppose you all wondered what happened. Well I lost my train of thought. When the clich�s are used, such as, just take Jesus into your life, what are they circumventing? The Gospel. In fact I was thinking back the other day, when I was a kid and I imagine most of you older people, you're going to nod your heads in agreement. And not that it was all wrong, but I think it was totally overdone. And all we heard Sunday after Sunday after Sunday was, hell, fire, and brimstone. That�s all they preached. It scared the socks off of people. And I�ve had so many of those come into my classes who got turned off by it, and they said, �We don�t want anything to do with it. If that�s all that Christianity is, is hell, fire, and brimstone, I don�t need it, thank you.� Now that is true, lost people are headed to a devil�s hell. Now don�t ever accuse me of not teaching that, but that is not the Gospel. Hell, fire, and brimstone preaching is not the Gospel. Telling people to come forward and take Jesus into your life is not the Gospel. The Gospel is that Christ died for you, was buried, and rose from the dead. Then when you believe the Gospel, who are you taking into your life? Jesus Christ. Absolutely you do. He becomes your personal Savior. Absolutely He does. But when you use those little clich�s by themselves, it�s not the Gospel. Now the same way back here in this verse again, I�ve recapped my thought. Here we have the Law of sin and death, and that�s been with man ever since Adam ate. But now to counteract that, to supersede that, we have the Law of the Spirit of Life. Now I guess I should make this point right here, since the word Spirit is now used. Do you realize in those first seven chapters of Romans, the Holy Spirit was only mentioned one time, and not in a really doctrinal sense? And now after Paul explained that dilemma in chapter 7, we come into chapter 8 and the Holy Spirit is going to be mentioned 19 times. In just this one chapter there is a direct reference to the work of the Holy Spirit. Now what does that tell us? Well I guess one way I could reconstruct it is in those first seven chapters as I reviewed in the beginning of the last program. In those first seven chapters Paul lays all the groundwork of how we ended up in sin and under condemnation, and how Christ died that we might be justified from all that, and we might be forgiven. And then he comes through chapter 7 with the dilemma of how can I overcome that old Adam, and how can I keep it in defeat? Well what�s the answer? Romans chapter 8, the Holy Spirit, and it�s that indwelling Spirit now that becomes our Law, if you want to put it that way. Now let�s read on to verse 3. Now of course you look at the context, and what�s he talking about? Well he�s not just talking about a fact of everyday life like the Law of Gravity and the Law of Sin and Death. Now he�s talking about the Mosaic Law, the Ten Commandments. For what the Law, what the Ten Commandments, or if you want to take the whole sphere of Judaism, put that in there too, or the Mosaic, for what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. I hope I can find the verse. Hebrews chapter 8, and come down to verse 7. Hebrews 8, and come down to verse 7. Hebrews 8, and come down to verse 7. For if that first covenant, that is the covenant of Law, the Law of Moses, if that first covenant had been faultless, now stop. When you see the word, if it would have been, then what does it imply? That it was. It was faulty, it was not faultless like we like to think. So if that first covenant of Law had been faultless, then there should be no place sought for the second. If it was perfect, no need for anything more. But it wasn�t. Oh it was perfect from God�s perspective, but not from mankind�s. Verse 8. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold the days come, saith the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand, and so forth. So what the Scripture is showing us then, is that the Mosaic Law from man�s perspective was faulty. Man couldn�t keep it, and as I�ve emphasized ever since I started this series back in Genesis, the Law had no power to help mankind keep the Law. The Law had absolutely no power to keep a man from stealing, committing adultery, and what have you. All it could do was condemn him. That�s all. But as you come back to Romans chapter 8 again, now you see living under the Law of the Spirit, what�s the big difference? Well the Spirit indwells us as we saw in our last program in I Corinthians 3 and 6. So what does the Holy Spirit in actuality become? Our Law. The Holy Spirit becomes our guideline for Christian living. Not a set of rules and regulations, but His influence, His power. Do you see the difference? So what the Law did was just sit there as I�ve always said so often, in cold stone. There was nothing warm or cuddly about the Law, it was severe, it condemned, and it did nothing to help that person keep it. But oh, the indwelling Holy Spirit is warm, He is loving, He does embrace us, He does cuddle us, and as He does so He gives us that desire first and foremost to live pleasing in God�s sight. He takes away that desire to be a rebel, and to be obnoxious and wicked, and all that. That�s the work of the Holy Spirit, not me, not you. It�s the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. So what the Law could not do in that it was weak, it had no power. That�s what He means. Not that it wasn�t perfect. Oh don�t ever accuse me of saying that the Ten Commandments weren�t perfect. Absolutely they were, but they were powerless. You know the illustration I think others have used, and you�ve heard it before, and I�ve used it before. The Law was just like a mirror. You come in from an afternoon of working in your yard, or whatever you may be doing on a hot summer day, and you�re sweaty and grimy, and you look in the mirror, and all the mirror can do is show you what�s wrong, what needs cleaning up. But see the mirror is never going to reach out and clean you, it can�t. It�s helpless, it�s weak. And that was the Law. It was just the mirror that showed man his utter sinfulness, his helplessness, but the indwelling Holy Spirit, that�s something totally different. Now back to verse 3. Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. I�ve said it on the program, I�ve told it in my classes night after night. This is something that I still cannot comprehend except through the eyes of faith, how that the Creator God Himself, and remember that�s who Jesus Christ was. He was the Creator of Genesis 1. He is the One who spoke, and the universe came into being. He�s the One who spoke, and Adam came up out of the dust of the ground. Jesus Christ is the likeness of sinful flesh, and for the sake of dealing with the old Adam, He condemned the old Adam and the flesh. That was His whole purpose of coming, was to get right down at man�s level, in man�s frame of flesh, that He might condemn sin and the flesh. And I�ll see you next time.