Romans #12 Free From the Laws of Gravity
Romans #12
Romans 8:1-17
Set Free From the "Laws of Gravity"
M.L. K., Jr. TAUGHT AT ABOUT FREEDOM
CHALLENGED US TO BE SATISFIED WITH NOTHING LESS
I think it would be awesome to be Free from gravity!
In 1994 I turned 30 and a few weeks before my birthday, I climbed into a Twin Otter Airplane with 22 people and we got free from gravity. I wanted to FLY, by myself, though, so at 14,500 feet I jumped out of that Twin Otter. I WAS FLYING!!! I was!! I could feel the wind in my hair, the force of my flight was evident all over my body as I cut through the air.
However a few seconds into my first FLIGHT, I looked at my altimeter and it didn't say 14.5K anymore, it said 10K. I flew a little bit more and it said 7K. After almost a minute it said 5.5K and I realized that I had a problem. ..
I was NOT FLYING I was FALLING.
I was FALLING at 120 MPH straight down!!!
I pulled my rip cord and started flying? … nope still falling just more slowly.
You know what? I landed on the ground.
WHY? The Law of Gravity.
The fact that it is a law means I can't get around it, I can't ignore it, I can't change it, I can only live within the principles of it.
So, what am I going to do to get free from it?
I want to be "weightless"
Well, I need to go to space right?
So, I need some things
1) Technology - the ability to put a man in space to break free from earth's atmosphere
a. - I can get in an airplane and fly up and down and simulate weightlessness, but that's not good enough
b. - we developed the technology to fly rocket and then the shuttle out of the earth's atmosphere
c. - we know HOW to do it
d. - hurdle number 1 jumped
2) Transportation
a. - we need a rocket or a shuttle and the necessary fuel etc. to break free.
b. - I can't afford one, I can't build one, but NASA or Russia can do that so there are vehicles available
c. - hurdle number 2 jumped
3) Ticket
a. - since I don't have a rocket/shuttle, I'm going to need a ticket/pass to get on someone else's shuttle
b. - you can't buy one in the USA but you can buy one in Russia for about $20 million!
c. - an American millionaire did it a while back. Then Lance Bass was going to do it last year, but after all of the training his sponsorships fell through and he couldn't go
d. - how are you going to get there? Someone would have to give it to you, to pick you to fly to space. The first Starving College Student in Space Program right?
e. - hurdle number 3 jumped
f. - then what?
4) The Time is NOW the Choice is yours
a. - you have to decide to go. The offer may come, the price may be paid, but the decision is yours
b. - "thanks but I'm afraid of heights"
c. - "thanks but I want to pay my own way, so I'm waiting until I earn the 20 million or until I get into the space program
d. - "thanks but I don't have time this month"
e. - "thanks but I want to go to a party with my friends this week"
I don't know about you … but I'm on the next train/plane/bus/
wagon train/mule to NASA to join the team and get on the Shuttle!!!!
Let's talk about the "Universal Law of Gravity" - Discovered and Articulated by Sir Isaac Newton
grav·i·ty n.
1. Physics.
a. The natural force of attraction exerted by a celestial body, such as Earth, upon objects at or near its surface, tending to draw them toward the center of the body.
b. The natural force of attraction between any two massive bodies, which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
The problem is that even if we get into orbit, a shuttle, or rocket, or satellite is STILL FALLING. It is just falling at the same curvature of the earth and thus kept in orbit.
The Law of Gravity is still in effect even though we've used our technology to get around it a little.
The reason that we "float" in orbit is because the shuttle and the person are both falling at the same rate of speed. But even in Space, we are still subject to the Laws of Gravity. While our technology may allow us to suspend it's effects ultimately our resources run out and it will take it's toll on us.
No matter how "good" we are No Matter how hard we try, we cannot offset the Law of Gravity
Now I said all of that to Say this
Let's talk about another set of "Laws of Gravity"
The second definition for Gravity is …
grav·i·ty n.
2. Grave consequence; seriousness or importance: ex. (They are still quite unaware of the gravity of their problems.)
Well we are subject to the "Law of Sin and Death". That's pretty GRAVE wouldn't you say? Sin … Death … pretty Grave.
We WANT to be set free from the Law of Sin and Death,
We MUST be set free from the Law of Sin and Death
If there are physical "Laws" that we can't get around, in like manner there are Spiritual "Laws" that we CANNOT change or supercede in our own power
No matter how good we are. No matter how hard we try, we cannot offset the Spiritual Law of Sin and Death
Sin is our Nature
Death is our Destiny
We must be set free from the Law, we must be Released from it's HOLD on us
What are we going to do?
We were Born into sin, Destined for Death - we cannot rise above or Free ourselves from these GRAVE laws
Eph 2:4-6 "But God, being rich in mercy … made us alive together with Christ … and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in Heavenly Places …"
1. Technology
Read v1 - Key "There is"
The technology is available it exists
A. Necessary
1. a sinless life lived by one
2. defeats the Law of Sin and Death
B. Old Technology -
1. The Old Covenant could NOT free us from the Law of Sin and Death, it simply gave us some release from the consequences.
2. Ultimately it made us more aware of the gravity of our situation i.e. we are stuck to the ground!
3. No matter how spiritually, emotionally, or intellectually HIGH we JUMP we are going to crash back to the earth
ILL << JUMP >> "VOLUNTEERS"
** - I Can REALLY WORSHIP - JUMP
** - I Can REALLY PRAY - JUMP
** - I Can REALLY HELP people - JUMP
** - I Am REALLY SMART - JUMP
** - I Am REALLY COMPASSIONATE - JUMP
** - I REALLY READ my Bible - JUMP
** - I Am a REALLY GOOD person - JUMP
C. We know what we need
> ONE SINLESS LIFE
2. Transportation
Hey I'm a guy and we're BIG on what kind of "RIDE" you have
Did you know that the original Script for "Back to the Future" called for a Refrigerator to be used as the TIME MACHINE? A FRIDGE? Come on you've got to be kidding? Everybody knows that you need a DeLorean for a time Machine. RIGHT? At Least a Phone Booth, but a Frige? Come on!
Read 2-4
A. Vehicle
1. Our Vehicle is the Atoning work of Christ at the Cross. It frees us from sin.
2. Our Fuel that Powers us to free us from Death is the Empty Tomb. The Resurrection of Christ defeats Death.
-- 1 Cor 15:55 - "Where oh death is your Victory, Where Oh Grave is your Sting?"
B. Propitiation
1. One sinless life lived and sacrificed as a substitutionary payment for your life
2. You don't need a 2003 Space Shuttle LX
3. You need an AD 29/30 Christ LCR (Lived, Crucified, and Resurrected)
v 2 - The only way around the Law of Sin and Death is to operate under a different law, that is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus which can set us Free
3. Ticket
A. Price
1. Death
2. Without shed blood there is no remission of sin
3. Problem, you CAN'T Pay for your own SIN and Go to Heaven. You'd have to DIE to pay for your own sin and you would then be separated from God
4. It is TOO expensive.
a. without 20 mill or so you can't purchase your way to space.
A millionaire bought his way to space.
Lance Bass tried to go, he went through the training, but ultimately his Sponsors pulled out and he couldn't afford it.
b. but YOUR ticket has already been purchased
B. Purchased
1. BY GOD
2. Currency - The Blood of Christ
ONE THING STILL REMAINS
What are you going to do?
4. The Time is NOW - Choice is Yours
Read vv 5-11
> Even if your heart is set on getting to Space and free from Gravity, you are STILL bound to its law and effects
> Even if you look to the Stars and JUMP with all your might
> Even if you build a Giant "Wile E Coyote" Sling Shot you are NOT going to get there!
The same is true spiritually !!!
You MUST be IN Christ as he is IN You.
He will Carry you, Transport you.
He will Free you from the Laws of Sin and Death
The Technology is Available
The Transportation is Available
The Ticket has been Purchased
The Time is NOW
The Choice is Yours
A. Receive It - The First Step
"GRANDMA is he telling the truth ..."
B. To Live In It - Obligation-Believers
1. The Daily -Process - daily choosing to live by the new nature and leave the old nature on the ground below
2. read vv 12-14
3. You are sons of God
4. Spirit of Sonship
5. NOT a Spirit of Slavery
C. Make the Choice
1. Read v 15
2. Don't be a Slave -
a. Walk Away - "Quigley Down Under" - Their Slave Master was Killed, Defeated by Quigley - Without a Word the Butler stripped the clothing of the slave master and walked away, right behind him followed others walking away from their slavery and into the bush and Freedom
b. However some of you are free and don't know it or live in it. -
c. Juneteenth - On January 1 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln became an Official Executive Order. However, the Texas Slaves hadn't gotten the word and continued to live in Slavery. Until June 19, 1865 when Union Major General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston Texas with this Order Read to Texans on that day "The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free."
d. They had lived for 2 ½ years in Slavery even though Freedom had been secured on their behalf.
Lives had been lost in battle to purchase their freedom but they continued in Slavery
3. Don't be a SLAVE
4. Call OUT to Him
5. Claim Him as "Abba" Daddy
6. What happens when we receive him as Daddy?
a. Read vv16,17 we become children
b. heirs
c. co-heirs with Christ
d. we share in his suffering, yes, but we also share in his GLORY
Look back at VERSE ONE
There is NO Condemnation (i.e. Gravity) for those who are IN Christ Jesus
What are you IN?
Are you trying to Get FREE in a FRIGE?
Get In Jesus
Live in Jesus
The great marine biologist Jacques Cousteau said
"from birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to the earth. But man has only to sink beneath the service and he is free."
Well, There is FREEDOM in Christ Jesus!
We bear the weight of the gravity of sin and death with us from birth.
But need only plunge beneath the flow of the blood of Christ and we will find ourselves weightless in the Grace of Christ.
I can hear the voice of Heaven's Mission Control now calling out to you
TEN -
- "who will deliver me from this body of death" Roman 7:24
NINE -
- "Set me FREE from prison, that I may praise your name" Psalm 142:7
EIGHT -
- "In him and through faith in him we may approach God with Freedom and confidence" Ephesians 3:12
SEVEN -
- "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32
SIX -
-
"I will walk about in Freedom, for I have sought out your precepts." Psalm 119:45
FIVE -
- "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed" Luke 4:18
FOUR -
- "the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God" Romans 8:21
THREE -
- "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is Spirit." 2 Cor. 3:17,18
TWO -
- "It is for Freedom that Christ has set us FREE. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" Galatians 5:1
ONE -
- "There is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1
ZERO
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness" 1 Peter 1:3
BLAST OFF!!!
We HAVE LIFT OFF
Break free from the Law Of Gravity
And as Dr King would Say...
Free at Last Free At Last
Thank God Almighty We Are Free at Last