What The Law Could Not Do

Paul puts Romans 8:1 out front like a big massive truth: “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The text does not pretend sin is small or God is soft. God is a righteous judge, and the law is the law. Sin has to be dealt with, because God does the right thing always.

The cross shows that the deepest pain on Jesus’ face was not merely physical suffering. Christ knew no sin, but became sin for sinners, and for that window of time the Father’s disapproval fell where human guilt had been placed. That sight ought to make sin hateful, not just because it hurts people, but because it does not glorify the Father.

Paul says the law could not do what sinners needed, not because the law was bad, but because flesh is weak. The problem is not the car, it is the driver. The law is like a mirror showing how far human life falls short of the glory of God. If sinners could keep it, Christ would not have had to come.

Then Romans 8 gives the gospel in two words: God did. What the law could not do, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Jesus was not sinful flesh, but he was truly man, because a substitute for man had to become a man. He stood where guilty people should have stood, and he bore what guilty people should have borne.

The language of “offering for sin” reaches back into the bloody, ugly sacrificial system. Leviticus was not some neat religious idea. The entrails, the blood, the spotless lamb or goat all told the truth that sin is nasty and ugly before God, and that atonement costs something. Jesus is the Lamb of God, not cute and sentimental, but sacrificed.

God condemned sin in the flesh of Christ. Every sin will be punished in one of two places, forever in hell or on the cross of Jesus Christ. That is penal substitutionary atonement: penal, because sin is punished; substitutionary, because Christ stands in the sinner’s place; atonement, because God makes amends with those who believe the gospel.

Paul’s “in us” matters. The law’s requirement is fulfilled in believers, not by believers. Justification is not earned by doing godly things, and sanctification is not optional decoration. Those who are in Christ do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Separating those truths too far creates a lie that a person can claim heaven while having a blast in sin; smashing them together creates the lie that works earn God’s approval. The true drumbeat is grace greater than sin, yet not the believer, but Christ through him.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. No condemnation is not softness Paul does not announce no condemnation by pretending guilt is minor. God remains the righteous judge who will not call sin a mistake and shrug it off. The good news is stronger than leniency, because God himself satisfies the requirement his own holiness demands. [43:31]
• 2. The law exposes weak flesh The law is not the problem; the sinner is. Like a Formula 1 car with a bad driver, the failure does not prove the design is bad. The law shows inability, not a pathway to earn life before God. [40:25]
• 3. Christ stood in guilty place The Son came in the likeness of sinful flesh, not as a sinner, but as a real man. A substitute for man had to become a man. The cross is not vague sympathy; it is actual place-taking before divine justice. [46:05]
• 4. Sin is uglier than imagined The sacrificial system was bloody and nasty because sin is bloody and nasty before God. The spotless offering taught the cost of atonement long before Golgotha. Calvary should make sin feel gross, not manageable. [49:41]
• 5. Justification never excuses flesh The law’s requirement is fulfilled in believers, not by believers. Yet those justified in Christ are Spirit-walkers, not people making peace with the flesh. A claim to salvation that has a blast in sin gives no real evidence that the requirement of the law has been fulfilled in that person.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [28:22] - False Accusation and the Pain of Christ
• [30:35] - Romans 8 and No Condemnation
• [33:22] - LaGuardia, Law, and Compassion
• [38:31] - Penal Substitutionary Atonement
• [39:38] - Weak Flesh and a Good Law
• [43:31] - What the Law Could Not Do
• [45:50] - The Son Sent as Substitute
• [47:54] - Leviticus and the Sin Offering
• [49:41] - Blood, Sacrifice, and Ugly Sin
• [53:24] - The Precious Son at Golgotha
• [55:03] - Penal Means Punished
• [59:44] - Atonement Makes Amends
• [61:11] - Justification and Sanctification
• [67:56] - Two Dangerous Errors

Bible Reading

Romans 8:1-4
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” [30:35]

2 Corinthians 5:21
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Leviticus 16:5-10
“And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. "Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.” [47:54]

Exodus 34:7
“keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” [59:11]

Observation questions

1. In Romans 8:1-4, what actions are credited to God, to the Son, and to the Spirit, and what is said to be true of those who are in Christ Jesus? [43:31]
2. In Romans 8:3, what does Paul say the law could not do, and what reason does he give for that weakness?
3. What details in Leviticus 16:5-10 show that dealing with sin involved an actual offering and atonement, not just words or good intentions? [49:41]
4. In Romans 8:4, how does Paul describe the people in whom the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled? [01:01:11]

Interpretation questions

1. Romans 8:1 says there is “no condemnation” for those in Christ, while Exodus 34:7 says God will “by no means clear the guilty.” How do these truths fit together without making God either unjust or unmerciful? [59:44]
2. Paul says Christ came “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” Why does that wording matter? What would be lost if Jesus were not truly man, or if Jesus were himself a sinner? [46:05]
3. Romans 8:3 says, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.” What does that show about the real problem in salvation: God’s law, human effort, or something else? [40:25]
4. Romans 8:4 says the law’s requirement is fulfilled “in us,” and then speaks about walking according to the Spirit. How does that help keep justification and sanctification together without confusing them? [01:08:54]

Application questions

1. “No condemnation” is a strong comfort, but it belongs to those who are in Christ Jesus. When guilt rises up in the heart, is there a tendency to run toward Christ or to hide from him? What usually reveals that? [30:35]
2. The cross shows that sin is not small, tidy, or manageable. Where has sin started to look normal, funny, or excusable in personal life? What would it look like to begin seeing that sin as ugly because it does not glorify the Father? [29:49]
3. The law exposes weakness rather than fixing it. Where is there still a temptation to think, “If I just try harder, God will accept me more”? What makes that way of thinking so attractive? [42:02]
4. Jesus stood in the guilty place of sinners. How does that change the way a believer responds after falling into sin: hiding, making excuses, punishing oneself, or returning honestly to Christ? [47:27]
5. Every sin will be punished either in hell or at the cross. How should that truth shape the way a person thinks about forgiveness, casual sin, and the urgency of trusting Christ? [58:39]
6. The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in believers, not by believers. Where is there a need for more rest in Christ’s finished work, and where is there a need for more seriousness about walking by the Spirit? [01:03:25]
7. A person cannot rightly cling to grace while making peace with the flesh. Is there any area of life right now where the pattern looks more like “having a blast in sin” than walking according to the Spirit? What would honest repentance look like there? [01:07:56]