Pray
Introduction: God's word rocks!
Junk mail: world is full of junk:
Find the right partner, car, birdsong clock
Make your life complete.
Letter from a friend:
Personal relationship - exciting to know that they care about you.
Imagine receiving Paul's letter to the Romans!
Word of life. Know God's truth.
If you want to know how God feels about you, read this.
If you want to know God's character, read this.
If you want to know God's will for your life, read this.
Read Romans 8: 1 - 17
Give background
- Relate to rest of the book of Romans.
This letter was written by Paul to a church he'd never visited, to introduce his teachings about the work of Christ and how we can benefit from it.
Brief summary of Romans so far:
- Universal sinfulness
- Salvation through Christ alone and is available to all
- How Christ repairs the damaged legacy of sin and death left to us in Adam (Rom 5)
Romans 7: role of the law and the weakness of the sinful nature
"What I want to do, I don't do and what I don't want to do, I do do....dooby do"
(If you put music to it, you'd have a great Eurovision song!)
Romans 8: summarises key points and talks about life in the Spirit.
Meaty passage - 4 points I want to touch on:
Role of Law
v3 - 4 "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."
What is the law? Torah: God's moral laws (10 commandments and scriptural mandates for living)
Role of the law:
- Law convicts us of our sin and makes us aware of our fallen state before God. Exposes God's holiness and our lack of it:
...for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
[Rom 5: 13].
...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
[Rom 3: 23]
- Law does not have a permanent place in redemption as it is not a means for people to be made right with God and cannot make us righteous:
...know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
[Gal 2: 16]
(we'll look at justification in Christ in a moment.)
- Law actually serves to increase sin:
The law was added so that the trespass might increase.
[Romans 5: 20]
Rebellious: as soon as someone says don't do something, it immediately makes you wanna do it!
Museums were a nightmare when I was younger - I wanted to poke all the exhibits.
National Trust - stilettos.
I was once frog-marched out of a National Trust house because I got too near a historic painting and set the alarms off!
- So, in our fallen state which we have inherited from Adam (see Romans 5), we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot please God and cannot meet the righteous requirements of the law.
v 7 - 8 "the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."
Reality - can't be good apart from God.
- Evangelism - people saying they try to be a moral person and obey the 10 commandments. Doesn't even make sense - 1st commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. Everything else hangs off this - doing the 'right thing' is our love response to God. You cannot be good if you refuse to submit to Christ:
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
[Matt 22: 37 - 40]
Slaves to sin - however hard you try, you do not have the power to say no to sin apart from God. The consequence of the fall is that humankind in in a state of rebellion against God. Creation itself is in 'bondage to decay' (Rom 8: 21). We are born in sin with a sinful nature:
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
[Psalm 51: 5]
With the sinful nature it is impossible to please God (see above).
So that's the bad news!...
Justification through Christ
v2 "through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death"
Justification - "law of the spirit of life" is the gospel which liberates us from the futility of trying and failing to keep God's commands in our own strength.
Justification means: to declare righteous (the opposite of condemn)
Sin -> death. Hell is a reality. Sin (rebellion against God) is serious.
Gift of God -> life
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[Romans 6: 23]
- Christ died our death for us - he took the punishment on himself. He does not hold our sin against us. We couldn't reach God by being good, so God came down to reconcile us to him. Grace is what separates Christianity from 'religion'.
[Pit analogy - can't climb out, however high we get. Jesus comes down to lift us to safety.]
In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.
[Isaiah 38: 17]
- Christ's righteousness has been transferred onto us:
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
[Rom 10: 4]
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
[2 Cor 5: 21]
v1 "No condemnation" We are pronounced 'not guilty'. We saw earlier that condemnation is the opposite of justification. Since we have been justified (made right with God) through Christ, we are no longer condemned. However we may feel, this is our status before God if we are a follower of Jesus.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
[John 3: 17]
Assurance - salvation is based on what Jesus has done and his promise of forgiveness and restoration, and not on our own efforts. God is faithful to his promises and we know from scripture that his grace is sufficient for us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
[1 John 1: 9]
Eternal life is a reality. We saw earlier that hell is real, but as followers of Jesus, we have been saved from it and set on course for heaven, living life as it is meant to be. Real life is life with Christ at the centre:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
[John 10: 10]
---------
Recap: We've looked at the role of the law and at salvation in Christ. We're now going to look at the freedom and life in the Spirit that Christ has brought us into.
Sanctified by the Spirit
v 9 "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ."
Law was not abolished, but fulfilled in Jesus. God hasn't stopped caring how we live our lives, but has set us free from legalism, so that we can obey him as a love response to him.
Freedom (see v 2) - many people think that Christianity is about trying to be a good person and obey a load of rules. However, we can only live God's way by grace - salvation is a free gift from God and so is sanctification (being made holy and set apart for God).
We all have the Spirit if we belong to Christ and he affirms our identity in Christ, our belonging to Christ and the promise of the full sanctification to come:
Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory.
[Eph 1: 13 - 14]
"However" - we are not controlled by the sinful nature and unable to please God. We are different from the world - we've been rescued and redeemed (lit: bought back)
- When we allow Christ to be Lord of our life, we are not only freed from the penalty of sin (death) but we are brought into a life where we are no longer mastered by the power of sin.
Phillips translation of Romans 8: 1 - 2:
The truth is that no condemnation now hangs over the head of those who are 'in' Christ Jesus. For the new spiritual principle of life 'in' Christ Jesus lifts me out of the old vicious circle of sin and death.
-We have the right and the means to say 'no' to sin as we are no longer slaves to Satan's power. Jesus makes this clear when he says,
I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
[Luke 10: 19]
- Christ has given us his authority to overcome the schemes of the devil, the temptations of the world and the strongholds of the sinful nature:
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
[2 Corinthians 10:4]
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
[2 Peter 1: 3]
- We are no longer slaves to fear and we are no longer slaves to our sinful nature. Romans 6: 18 makes it clear that if we are under Christ's authority, we are instead 'slaves to righteousness':
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
v10 - 11 "But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."
We have died to our old self (our flesh-life):
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
[Phil 1: 21]
Born again (John 3)
- One of the most exciting and radical things about life in Christ is that it involves dying to our former life and being born again.
Christianity isn't just an 'add on' tacked onto our old life. It's a new life.
- We have been brought from death to life by surrendering our life to Christ:
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
[Rom 6: 13]
Note these words of Jesus:
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
[Luke 9:24]
v 5 - 6 "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."
Consequences of living God's way and 'keeping in step with the spirit' (Gal 5: 25):
Transformed mind: not thinking the way the world does. Our attitudes, hopes, desires and plans do not sit comfortably with the world. Living with a godly mindset.
I have a TV (only for the snooker!)- get sacked off.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.
[Romans 12: 2]
- Fix our eyes on Jesus:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
[Heb 12: 2]
Bright sunny day (hard to imagine!). When you focus on the sun for a while and then look at other things, everywhere you look, you can see an imprint of the sun. In the same way, we should make sure that we focus on God's Son, so that wherever we look we see Him.
- Eternal perspective (will return to this a little later on)
Life and peace - only comes from a right relationship with God, as that is what we were created for in the first place.
I meet many people who are looking for peace and satisfaction, but whatever we fill our lives with, we will never be satisfied or at peace until we have been reconciled with God.
True identity as Children of God
v12 - 16 "Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."
Our true identity - children of God, able to please him - he delights in us:
And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
[Matt 3: 17]
- We saw earlier that God's primary concern is not a list of rules, but rather relationship, as can be seen throughout scripture starting from the creation account in Genesis.
- We were created to be in a relationship with God and be in his family from the outset, but due to our rebellion against him, that relationship was broken and can only be restored by faith in Jesus.
John 1: 12 - 13 tells us that
to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
- God's decision and initiative. It is something he has planned for us before we were even born (natural birth that is!):
he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will
[Eph 1: 5]
- The Lost Son parable (Luke 15) gives great insight into how we have rebelled against God and how it is possible to have that relationship restored.
- Slaves v Sons. God will not have us back as anything less. One of the amazing things about the father in the Lost Son parable is that he won't let his son get to the end of his prepared speech, where he had planned to ask his father to have him back on the same level as one of the hired men. God accepts us back on his terms, which are far more gracious than many of us would dare to expect! He has paid the full price for our rebellion and now he wants us to be re-instated to full sonship status!
No fear - can approach God with confidence:
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
[Hebrews 4: 16]
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
[Eph. 3:12]
v17 "Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."
Glorious inheritance.
- We can confidently look forward to a day when God will complete the good work he started in us:
...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
[Phil 1: 6]
- We will be able to worship God perfectly for eternity.
- It is worth emphasising again that it is God who has qualified us to share in this inheritance, and not the fruit of our own efforts:
...giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
[Col 1: 12]
Share in sufferings.
- We are also called to share in Christ's death and sufferings:
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
[Phil. 3: 10]
Being a Christian isn't always easy and we're not preaching the gospel if we're telling people that. However, it is worth it.
[Parachute analogy]
Share in his glory. One day we will be fully sanctified and removed from the very presence of sin. We will be able to worship God perfectly forever!
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
[1 John 3: 1 - 2]
---------------- Sneak preview of the rest of Romans 8 - read at home. Conclusion:
Summary of key points and challenge
(1) Role of law - exposes sin and our need for God's salvation. We cannot be saved by obedience to the law as none of us are good enough.
(2) Justified by Christ's death on the cross - Christ's righteousness is transferred to us freeing us from the penalty of sin. Dead to our old self, alive in Christ.
(3) Sanctified by grace and new life in the Spirit. We can't make ourselves holy, any more than we can save ourselves, by obeying a set of rules. God's spirit in us gives us a new nature and enables us to live in obedience to God out of love for him. Obedience should not be a legalistic concept, but rather a natural response to God's overwhelming love.
Have the right and the power to say 'no' to sin.
Spirit gives us a transformed mind and heart. Fear is replaced by peace. Our hardness of heart is replaced by love for God. Ezekiel 36:
For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
[Ezekiel 36: 24 - 28]
(4) Our identity is as children of God. This is unshakeable and will last for all eternity. We will share in Christ's inheritance and can look forward with eager anticipation to the fulfilment of God's promises. Close with Rev 7: 9 - 17:
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"
Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes - who are they, and where did they come from?"
I answered, "Sir, you know."
And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Prayer
