Romans chapter 7. About 10 years ago, we were over in Pennsylvania, and we're touring the battlefield at Gettysburg. There's a part of that battlefield that is characterized by just these enormous rocks. You are able to move in and about them and around them and there are places in which you are just fully engulfed by these rocks. You're standing in the midst and in front of you and behind you and on either side it seems that you are just surrounded by these towering rocks. We have read throughout all my life, and I'm sure you have as well, about how it was that there was at one point where God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock and He covered him with His hand as he passed by so that all that Moses could see was his back and could not see his front. You have heard about being hid in the cleft of the rock and the references to that from a church standpoint or from a spiritual standpoint. And I have too. But I didn't fully understand that until it was that I stood in a place where I was in the cleft of a rock. And there in that moment I realized what it meant to be just surrounded and guarded inside a rock. You see, because most of the time you see rocks, and they're just these big, dense things, and you're like, well, I don't know what it would be like to be inside of that. But I encourage you sometime, whether it's there, or some cave, or some mountain, or wherever you find yourself, where you might be able to get a glimpse of what it's like to be within a rock. Because when you're there, you'll suddenly get a sense for the surroundings that come with it, of being guarded, of being shielded, of being protected, being within the rock. You'll see some essence of that here in a moment as we look to this seventh and eighth chapter of the Book of Romans. And I want to note, and you've heard me say this many times before, but it's really important here in the seventh and eighth chapters of the book of Romans, because the delineations that we see in the chapters and in the verses of the scriptures, they were not in the original. Paul did not sit down to write the book of Romans and he got to the 7th chapter and he wrote at the top of his page chapter 7 and then proceeded to write everything and he got to the end of it and then wrote chapter 8 and proceeded to write everything. That's not what Paul did in writing the book of Romans. The chapters and the verses have been added for our aid to help us in reading and navigating and searching the scriptures, and they are good, but we must pay special care when there have been instances like this one where those divisions have been inserted in a way that break up what is a complete thought that we see being authored by Paul here, and it is a glorious thought, and it is a wonderful thought. In the first verse of the eighth chapter, very well might be, pound for pound, the most significant and weightiest and meatiest verse in all of the Scriptures. And so we don't want to lose sight of the context, given its significance. So it's necessary that we see that. And so as we begin to read through here, I want you, though we'll pivot from 7 to 8, don't lose sight of what the fullness of the Scriptures are declaring to us. Something else I want to add, and I apologize, but there's some just necessary theology that we've got to look at with this. But in the King James, in the first verse of chapter 8, that verse that I'm describing and its significance and its weight and its meatiness, you'll see at the latter part of that that there's a segment of the verse that has been brought forward from the fourth verse to the first verse. And it's not exactly wrong, but it also somehow distracts from the significance of what that first verse states. And even C.H. Spurgeon agreed with that. But this latter part of verse 1 of the King James, it's kind of there. Supporting manuscripts don't support it being there and in fact you'll see that it's the same words that you read in verse 4 it's just been kind of carried forward and it kind of Waters down a little bit the significance of chapter 1 or the 8th chapter in the first verse and so for those reasons I'm going to read as our primary text this morning from the NASB 95 And the other thing that it does, it helps us, especially in the seventh chapter, to be able to make heads and tails of what can be some confusing language to try to sift through and weave through. So if you're following along on the King James, you'll note some differences here just in terms of word order and translation. But do not fear, I assure you that the truth in its fullness is captured." So with all that being said as a kind of a precursor this morning, begin reading with me in Romans 7 at verse 21. Romans 7, beginning at verse 21. It said, I find then the principle or the law that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. He said, but I see a different law in the members of my body that are waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. So Paul here is stating, he says, there is this general principle, this general law that I have found about the nature of the flesh. He said that even though I desire to do good, there is this evil that is present in me. He said, for with my mind I joyfully agree with the law of God. I desire to submit my life and surrender my life to the law and commandments and instructions of the Lord. He says, but I see a different law in the members of my body, speaking of the flesh, that wage war against that law of my mind, and that make me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. He is just seeing this conflict within himself with regards to a mind and a heart that desire to do the things of the Lord, but a flesh that struggles because of the nature of sin. And so in verse 24, he finally declares, Wretched man that I am! who will set me free, who will deliver me from the body of this death." He just leaves himself almost hopeless because of this nature. But then in verse 25 he says this, he says, "...thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh the law of sin." And so he's comparing these two different natures. And then you get to the next verse. And it's awesome. It says, Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. Write that somewhere this week that it is in front of you as often as it can be in front of you. Write it on your mirror in your bathroom. Write it on your desk at work. Write it and put it up on the dashboard in your car. Put it above the kitchen sink. Put it on the refrigerator door, wherever it is, that it can just be prominent in your life until it is and it takes root in your soul, that therefore there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. If you allow that to take root in your heart, I am not exaggerating when I tell you it will change your life, it'll change your want to, it'll change your desires, it will completely transform and radically change your life. I'm not exaggerating in the least when I say that either. That therefore there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. I'll probably quote that a dozen more times. because it is necessary that that take root in your soul. Because if you have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, this verse is the reality of your life, that there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. And we're going to talk about the fullness of that, the reality of that, what life looks like outside of condemnation. But I beg you and I plead with you to just put this verse fully surrounding your life until it is that it takes root in your heart. Because it will change your life. You don't like where your life is at right now? Let this verse take root in your heart and your life will change for the better. You like where you're at in life right now. Just imagine what it could be when this verse takes root in your heart. That therefore there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. It's not very hard to memorize, is it? Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Verse 2. We're going to say verse 1 a lot more, but let's look at verse 2. It says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Did you hear that? So that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. I'm not a slave to my flesh anymore. I've been set free from it. Sin no longer has dominion over my life. And there's no condemnation for me anymore either. Why? Because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free. Verse 3 says, "...for what the law could not do, because it was weak through the flesh." He's saying we had, and you've heard me talk about it before, these 600 plus laws that these Jews and these Pharisees were trying to uphold, but try on their very best day, and they could not uphold them all. because of the weakness of their flesh, they could not do it. And so in verse three, Paul writes, for what the wolf could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did it. And he did it by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He says God took on flesh in the son, Jesus Christ, and as an offering for sin, giving himself as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I'm no longer condemned because the sin that once had reigned over me has been condemned by Jesus Christ." Isn't that incredible? I'm free. I'm free from condemnation because the sin of my life has been condemned and defeated and destroyed by Christ. I'm just telling you, this will just blow your mind. You let this get good and deep in your heart, and it will change you. It will change you. Verse 4 says, "...so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Now how could that be? How can this be that the requirement of the law can be fulfilled in us? We just talked about how we cannot fulfill the requirements of the law because of the weakness of the flesh. How now can it be fulfilled in us? Seeing that we do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Verse 5, For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Paul here is kind of tracing back to chapter 7 where he's talking about this want to and the design of your heart and the design of your mind being changed. That those who are no longer of the flesh but are of the Spirit, they set their minds on the things that are spiritual. not the things that are according to the flesh. If you want a good test of salvation, a good test of whether or not you are truly saved, examine yourself and identify what is it that your mind is set upon. Is it set upon the things of the flesh or is it set upon the things of the Spirit? Because if there's been a work done in your life where it is that you have been radically transformed and set free from the condemnation of sin, then it will be, it's not supposed to be or might be, it will be that your heart's desires are on those things that are of the spirit and not those things that are of the flesh. You're not going to have an interaction with Christ where He changes you. Where you are made new in Christ Jesus. Where you are born again. You're not going to have a born again experience with Christ Jesus and come out looking the same as He used to. That's just absurd. That doesn't follow even logic. But that would be the case. We're blessed to have these two new beautiful babies with us. Go and look at them. How precious they are. How wonderful they are. And we just goo and all and just fall in love with them. And they're just precious at our side, aren't they? You know why? Because they are innocent. They're without anything about them that we could somehow not love. There's nothing about them that we say, you know, that kid just has a rebellious spirit. They don't have that yet, do they? They're just these little balls of joy. Yeah, they get on their parents' nerves when they cry and need fed and stay up all night and those sorts of things, but we don't have to deal with that, so we eulogize over them. Because they're precious and they're innocent. They've not yet known the reality of this world and its sinfulness. And so are we when we are set free from the law of the flesh, when we're saved by God's grace. We've been transformed by it, set apart from it. And so as a result of that, we are made these creatures. We're not free from accusation. We're not free from the struggle or the conflict of sin that we see at the end of the seventh chapter here. But instead, we are free from the condemnation of that sin. And as a result of that, we are able to live freely because of it, and apart from sin, and have our hearts set upon the things that are spiritual, and our minds renewed day by day because of Christ. And so the nature of us, not only is it transformed in that moment in which we've gone from death into life, from darkness into light, and being born again and being saved, but we see day by day we are being renewed by the mind of Christ. Let me put it this way. If you've been saved by God's grace, it is as though every day you are growing and learning more and more about the liberty and freedom and wonder of what it is to have been set free from sin. and instead having your mind set upon the things of the Spirit. You ever heard some good old saints of God stand up and talk about how they've been saved for 30 years, for 40 years, for 50 years, or however long? And they'll get up and they'll say, you know what? It gets sweeter every day. Do you know why they say that? Because they learn more and more about the reality from which they've been saved, but also the reality to which they've been saved. That they've been set free from that life of sin, and instead they get to taste and know of the wonderful glory of Jesus that is found in the heart that has been set free from sin. They learn more of Him, and they've been growing to be more like Him. And the closer that they get to knowing Him and to seeing Him and the reality of who He is, they say, look how far it is from which I've come to where I am today. And they'll tell you they're still struggling, but they see that they are being made more and more like unto the nature of Jesus Christ. And it gets sweeter day by day. What spectacular things. And so he keeps going. And he says, for the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Verse 7, because the mind set on the flesh, listen to this, is hostile toward God. For it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. I want that last part to hang on you for a second. That those that are in the flesh cannot please God. You can't do it. There's two ways that I want you to see that. First, if you are lost and separated from God, you cannot please God. Let me just make that abundantly clear. Young friend who's lost and separated from the Lord, you can get up and sing songs, and you can do all sorts of wonderful things that might even receive the praise of men, but you are not pleasing God. because your heart's hostile towards Him. So even though by your actions it might suppose to us that you are pleasing God, your heart that is hostile to God, it is not somehow sneaking a fast one past Him. You cannot please God. Similarly, you who have been saved by God's grace, when it is that you subject yourself to those members of yours that still desire after that sin, because this body has not yet received the fullness of redemption, these bodies that still long after that filth that they have once found themselves free to wallow in by the mind. Behold, when you allow yourself to be subjected unto the law of the flesh, you also, saith friend, cannot please God." The number of people who want to act like they are godly on a Sunday morning, yet live ungodly lives throughout the week, let me tell you for clarity, you might trick us, but you are not tricking God. You who are in the flesh cannot please God. As Larry Patterson used to say, that dog won't hunt. You can't do it. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God. It says that the mind that is settled in the flesh is hostile towards God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God. What we're talking about here is being submissive to the Lord. And it is only that heart that has been saved by God's grace, that has been born again and made a new creature in Christ Jesus, who is humbly desiring to submit itself unto the Lord, that can be used of God for His good pleasure. I'll just tell you, I'll just tell you my own life. Day by day, sometimes moment by moment, I constantly have to submit myself to the Lord again and again. Because this struggle with the nature of the flesh, with this war, this conflict that is with our members, it's a real one. It's a real conflict. And we might wanna not talk about it because we don't want anybody to blush. But I'm just telling ya, it's real. And so because of that, the nature of the life of a Christian must be one of constant submission unto the Lord. Submitting ourselves again and again unto Him, that we might be able to take on that same mind that was in Christ Jesus, that it might also be in us. Verse 9, he says, However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Let me say this real plainly too. You're either saved or you're lost. There's no in-between point. The Spirit of Christ is either in you or it's not. You either belong to Christ or you don't belong to Christ. There's no such thing as being a little pregnant or almost pregnant. There's no such thing as being a little saved or almost saved. You're either saved or you're not. I want that to be plain to you. I think sometimes people think, well, I can just kind of screw it around the edges, and you know what, I'm going to stand before the Lord someday, and I'll say, ah, you did an okay job, come on in. That's not the nature of this. We're talking about the nature of lives being completely transformed, of the inward nature of man being made new in Christ Jesus, being born again as saints of God. There's no almost about that. You're either altogether saved or you're altogether lost. You must be born again and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Verse 10 he says, If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you." We'll stop there for our reading, but Paul there is saying, in essence, he's saying this conflict is going to come to an end. that one day this body here that struggles by its nature, that is constantly dead because of its sin, even though our spirit is alive because of righteousness, that at some point, that same spirit that resurrected Jesus Christ will resurrect these dead bodies also. And when these mortal bodies are resurrected, when these bodies that are weak according to the flesh are resurrected, behold, they will no longer be mortal, but immortal. They'll no longer be weak, but they'll be powered by the Spirit of God that on that great and wonderful day when Jesus Christ returns, we will be resurrected and we will receive a spiritual body that matches the righteousness of our hearts that Jesus Christ has given us when His righteousness was imputed to us in that moment that we were saved. He's saying someday we're going to receive bodies that match our hearts. Isn't that cool? I can't wait for that day. That's a good... Listen, if you ain't got nothing to look forward to, you can look forward to that. There is a day that is coming where we will be rescued and redeemed from this body of flesh, and we will receive a spiritual body wherein we get to spend eternity with God. Praise the Lord. We gotta return to this first verse, though. that therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Here's where you're going to be like, I don't believe you, Derek. There's just three things I want to look at with regards to this, and we'll try to hurry through those. I know a lot of what we're looking at today is heavy in doctrine, it's heavy in theology. But listen to me, I know sometimes we almost reject these types of messages because they take a little work for us to really grasp. But listen to me, when this takes root in your heart, I'm telling you truthfully, it will change you. They will change you. I mean, I couldn't sleep last night because this verse just wouldn't let me. That therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I mean, it'll just set your mind just ablaze with the goodness of God and what He's done. But you know what my favorite part of this verse is? It's that little word that you can almost miss where it says now. He says, therefore there is now. This is not the future reality of the believer. It is the current reality of the believer. that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now let's talk about for a moment what this verse is doing. To be condemned means that you are not just judged, but you are judged guilty and sentenced for that which you have been tried. You've been set on trial for your sins. Condemnation would mean that you have been judged, guilty and sentenced to hell because of your sins. Yet here we see the Scriptures tell us that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We have barked the condemnation. We have denied it. We have refuted it. Not we, but through Christ Jesus, we have seen that we've been able to look that condemnation in the eye, and it is made to flee from us because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that lives in us now. If you've been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, His righteousness dwells in you today. and you dwell also in Him. You see that part where it says, in Christ Jesus? Remember what I opened with about being surrounded by that rock? If you've been saved by God's grace, you are entirely in Christ. There's no part of you that's doing the hokey pokey and sticking your left leg out or some part of you out. You are wholly and completely in Christ. You have laid aside the claim that you have to your own, and you have given yourself fully and completely over to Jesus Christ. If you've been saved by God's grace, that's what happened in that transaction, that moment where you were saved. You were made fully a new creature that is now no longer you who lives, but Christ who lives in you. You've set aside claim on your own life and you have given that to Christ Jesus and you are now in Him. So for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is now no condemnation. Now what's the reality of this for the believer? I want to look to just three things. First, it means that you have been liberated from sin. Now, at one point, earlier on in the book of Romans, Paul deals with this. He talks about how it is that we've been delivered from sin. And then he asks the question, he can almost hear the readers asking the question themselves, saying, well, if we've been set free from the punishment of sin, does that mean that we are just set free to sin all that we want? If I've been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, and I am saved forever as a result of that, and don't have to worry about dying and going to hell anymore, what is to keep me from just going about and sinning all day? It's funny, the language that Paul uses in response to that question, it's almost like he says, oh no, no, no, no, no! But King James translates it, God forbid! But if you read the Greek, it's like he's saying, no, no, no, no, no. You've got that all wrong. Because we've been set free from sin because we have died to sin. And if you've died to sin, then you cannot pick it back up and live with it anymore. You've died to it. You've been set free from it. There is a real sense in which the believers should be so repulsed by sin that they just can't stomach it. They see it and it just turns their stomach. Especially when they see it in themselves. They see it and they're left like Paul wants to say, wretched man that I am. I can't stop this. It just should make your stomach turn. I mean, think about those things that cause you to just be repulsed. Some of you have seen me in moments and settings where I've been repulsed by something. I got a very powerful nose and a very weak stomach. I smell things and they'll just turn my stomach. Sin should have that effect for every one of us. That we just can't stomach it. I might love you, but listen man, your sin makes me nauseous. I'll help you clean it up, but I'm gonna need a hazmat suit, all right? We're gonna have to roll up our sleeves and get down to this. Well, listen to this, I wanna read a passage of scripture to you. about this. John chapter 8 verse 1. It says, But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him. And He sat down, and He began to teach them. And it says, And the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery in the very act. It says, Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say? They were trying again to somehow tempt Jesus or twist him up in something. In verse 6 though, he says, They were saying this, testing him, so they might have grounds for accusing him. It says, But instead Jesus stooped down, and with his finger he began to write on the ground. He says, But when they persisted in asking him, he straightened up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. It says, And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones. And he was left alone in the woman where she was in the center of the court. Can't you just picture this scene? Jesus is here sitting, and He's teaching, and there's all these people around Him, and these self-righteous people bring this woman who was caught in the act of adultery before Him, and begin to test Him, wanting to cause all sorts of accusation. And Jesus, ever so patiently, He gets up, and he stoops down on the ground and he starts writing. We're never told what he writes, but whatever it was must have been convicting enough. Because when he stood up again and he asked those who were around condemning this woman, said, Who of you who is without sin cast the first stone at her? And then he gets back down and he starts writing again. And it says, beginning with the older first, that they all put down their rocks, I don't know if they put down their rocks or not, but they all began to turn aside and leave. So that was left just this woman and Jesus. Now listen to what happens next. It says, straightening up again, Jesus stands back up and he says to her, women, where are they? Did no one condemn you? And she said, no one, Lord. And Jesus said, I do not condemn you either. Go and sin no more. Isn't that wonderful? If you've been saved by Jesus Christ, that's what's happened within you. Rather than being condemned, He has spoken to your heart and said, go and sin no more. You've been set free from this. You've been set at liberty from this condemnation. No longer is it that you have all of these people around you picking up stones to cast at you. But now, do not take this as some license that you've not been condemned, that you may go and live a life that is fraught with sin, but instead the Master has spoken to our hearts and He has said, go and sin no more. We're liberated from sin in this life that is outside of condemnation. Not only so, going back to the book of Romans, just reading three verses here in Romans 5. I assure you, we're going to work through these very quickly. Just three verses. Romans 5, verse 15. It says, "...but not as the offense, so also as the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead..." In Adam, we're all dead in our sins. Much more, the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift, for the judgment was by one to condemnation. But the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one's man's offense death reign by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Paul's language here is just fantastic. He's trying to describe this grace that is found in Christ Jesus. This favor that we have found, seeing that we've been radically transformed by the blood of Jesus. And he's trying to describe it. And all that he can use, he's saying it's just abundant. Can't you just picture that? I mean, it'd be as if you're walking through somewhere. You're just walking through the room of grace in heaven. And it's just everywhere. I mean, you're trying to take a step, and each step you take, you've got to scoot a little bit more grace out of the way. It's just everywhere. For the believer, our lives are marked by the grace of God. His favor has extended to us in its abundance. We see it in all that we do day by day. The goodness and grace of mercy of God marking our lives. Someone would look at you and would say, my goodness, it seems as though you are going through so much. How are you able to persevere? And the one whose heart is caught up in the goodness of God looks to them and says, by grace. I think there's that song that sings that. Isn't there? You ask me how I made it. I made it by grace. The believer understands this new freedom and the abundance of grace. You're starting to see why this verse will take hold of your life and just change you. Because suddenly, rather than looking around you and seeing everything that's just so wretched and bad and wrong, all you get to see is grace. I'll just tell you what, it is by the Lord's grace alone that there's any good in the world. You know, there's been shootings this week. That terrible shooting down in Georgia. There was one last night down in Kentucky. You know, all these sorts of things going on. And there's always this gotcha question that people that are hostile against God try to ask. And they'll say, if God is good, why is there so much evil in the world? The basis of the question's wrong. The question is, seeing that the world is so evil, how is there any good thing at all to be found in it? The only reason there's any good in this world is because of the grace of God. The only reason why there's any good thing in me, the reason why there's any good thing in you, is because of the grace of God. apart from that grace, all that we would have is worthlessness and rottenness and wretchedness because of the nature of sin. Lastly, 1 John 3, beginning at verse 13, He says, do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. You want to see another hallmark of a life outside of condemnation? It's marked by love. He keeps going, though, in verse 15. "'Because everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know, loved by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but indeed, and in truth, the life that is found in Christ Jesus, the life in which there is no condemnation, it doesn't just give lip service to the Christian life. It puts flesh on it. It puts skin on it. It lives it out. It's not just by word or by tongue, but it's by deed and by truth. Verse 19, we will know by this that we are of the truth and will assure our heart before Him. And whatever our heart condemns us, for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Listen to these last two verses. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. Let's do this in the last verse. And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. I need to talk to you just for a second just to help grasp the reality of these last two verses, and we'll close. It's about the nature of a conscience. There are some of you who, by your nature, you have a soft conscience. There are some of you who, by your nature, you have a very hard conscience. My children don't like when I use them as examples, but I can't use your children, because that'd be rude, so I have to use mine. My oldest daughter has a very soft conscience. I mean, she just melts anytime she's done something wrong and is getting in trouble for it. I mean, she just can't stand that reality. There's times her heart breaks because she thinks she's in trouble. I mean, she just has this super soft conscience. My other two, well, they're another story altogether. I'm not sure they have a conscience sometimes. They do, I can't seem to get to it. But what I'm telling you is that there's a nature to all of us in which we have a conscience about the things that we do. Whether they be good or whether they be bad, we have a nature to us about that. But those who are in Christ Jesus, we have a special nature of our conscience where it will condemn us when we do those things that are outside of the Lord. Remember how we're repulsed by sin? That repulsiveness of our own, it causes us this rejection to say, how in the world did I get myself caught up in doing that? Well, it's one of those things where you do something and you're laughing. You're just like, my goodness! You get angry when you knew you should have been more patient or whatever else, and you just feel this condemnation upon you of your own heart. And he says, but when our hearts do not condemn us, we know that we have confidence before God because of His righteousness and His commandments that we are doing that are pleasing in His sight. And he says, and because of this, whatever we ask, we receive from Him. So this reality of living outside of condemnation, it results in a full reality or full realization and a full reliance on the sovereignty and provision of the Lord. Let me say that very simply. When you've been saved by God's grace and you are living according to the Spirit rather than according to the flesh, you recognize God's sovereignty over your life and you are submitting yourself to that sovereignty that He might have rule over you. That whatever it is that you do, whatever it is that you say, whatever decisions you make, you are making in light of who God is and for His glory. But also you are recognizing that it is by His hand that all things have been provided. That when you sit down at the table to eat, or you're like me, you go through a drive-thru, or you lay your head on your pillow at night, wrapping up the end of another long day, that you do so recognizing the providence of God in your life. that, behold, you recognize that anything that was done that day was done because of the hand of the Lord, that anything that you received that day was because of the hand of the Lord, that what you ate, that what you drank, that anything that you have or ever, ever had is because of the provision and providence of the Lord. You see, this reality that we live outside of the condemnation that we were once under, it is met in our lives day by day. And when you allow the gravity of this reality, that there is now therefore, and I know I'm mixing up some of the exact wording of it, but therefore there is now No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When that takes root in your heart, it will change your life. It will change your perspective. It will change your attitude. It will change your view of the world. It will change how you treat others. It will change how you treat your spouse. It will change how you treat your children. It will change your world. When this gets in your heart, that therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. May the Lord bless this message today.