Romans 7:25-8:11
Notes
Transcript
If you were here last week
That was awesome
I have been a part of that as a student as a youth pastor but that was amazing
I wanted to highlight it for you in case you missed it
Those kids went to camp and had fun and cried a lot and had some amazing God moments
God moved
And church they even gave the church answers to spending a week at church camp
Then as they were answering Erick asked them to give specifics as to what they needed to repent of or run from
WOW
Maybe we need church camp for adults
How many of us adults would willingly sit up here and share with the room and even the internet what we need to repent of, or that Jesus really isn’t number 1 in our lives and I am going to make some changes in my life, or there are friends in my life I need to remove because they don’t help me grow in Christ or they don’t help me Glorify God, or that my family is just playing Christian, or that I don’t want to be the same person I was before camp
So church I am going to challenge you this morning right now
Begin to pray for them, and maybe church just maybe you seek them out to help disciple them
That is what its about and this is how these students will grow in Christ
We have heard and seen this morning how God hears and moves when His people Pray
Then church I would encourage you to continue to help and hold those students accountable
Then maybe spend sometime sharing what you need to repent of and then DO IT!
Remember a few weeks ago we looked at the end of Romans 7, and it and this week sort of wraps up Paul's explanation
At the beginning of Romans 7 Paul introduced to them what he all the way back in Romans 1
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
You are without excuse about knowing Christ and being saved
See some of them were saying but I don’t have a problem
We have said it but you need to come to realize and own your own personal sin
Once you know and understand you are a sinner you know that you need a savior
At the beginning of Romans 7 they were being introduced again to the idea that you are without excuse of even knowing you sin
The Law didn’t make you sin it only revealed it to you
Sin was always the problem
The Law was essentially the messenger to tell us what the problem was called
You can’t show up at church and be upset they called you out on your own sin
It ain’t the churches fault you sin it is you and you alone
The Paul shares with the Jews that keeping the law or even attempting to keep the law cannot save you
In fact nothing can save you but what Paul says right at the end of Chapter 7 in his letter to the Jews in Rome
Who can save this wretched man
deeply afflicted, dejected
Church who can save this lost man
Like the later half of Romans 7 we try so many different things
We try just being Good
We try so hard to follow the rules that the world says is a good Christian
6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
We try ministry, or church membership
If being Jew didn’t save you then being a member of Maranatha Baptist Fellowship can’t save you
Maybe it is the pastor
Do we even need to go there
This is the question Paul is asking
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 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.
Paul is saying that only Jesus can save period
I know we say that a lot but church it is true and it is worth repeating
Church we can praise the Lord this morning because of what Christ did on the cross and in the grave some 2000 years ago
Maybe you already have a relationship with Jesus
You don’t just need to wait for Easter to celebrate the events of Easter those events have forever changed your life
We are to praise God because of what He did
Maybe you are lost and still that wretched man who does not know Jesus personally
This morning you need to understand that you are headed for eternal separation from God who loves you and cares for you
He created you
He knew you before you own parents did
He knows all about you
In fact He knows how many hairs you have on your head or how many you don’t have on your head
Church we say all that to say that Jesus loves you so much He willingly went to the cross to save you
He was the only one to do that and He is the only one who could ever save you
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
If the wretched man who was dejected and lost there was condemnation of death because of sin
But for those who are in Christ Jesus for those who have repented and trusted Jesus there is no condemnation because Christ took that payment
But church Jesus is much more than a get out of jail or a fire insurance card that you get to whip out
This is only the icing on the cake this morning
Jesus does so much more than keep from hell and the eternal punishment of sin
In fact Jesus sets you and I free from the sin
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 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.
Jesus has set you free for those who are in Christ
That is what Jesus did, you simply have to accept that and then you are free
Paul continues to show the difference between the law and Jesus
As good as the Law was it could only show you your own faults
Jesus could and did take those faults or sin and deal with it once and for all
It is only because of Christ that we are free
The law is of the flesh
Think of the Old Testament Law
Do not murder
Do not steal
Those we can keep they are in our flesh and those people see when we mess up
But Jesus shows up and says it is no longer enough in the physical to do those things but I am concerned about the heart of the matter
Where is your heart
You can say I have never murdered anyone and then Jesus asks but have you hated anyone
You can say I have never committed adultery and you can say no I haven’t and then Jesus would ask but have you looked at a women with lust have you looked at a man with lust
And remember that is still only the law revealing the sin in your own life
We then take that to Jesus and say Jesus I don’t want this life anymore
Jesus I want you to be Lord of my life
Jesus I believe you are the son of God
Jesus I believe you died for my sin and rose again 3 days later
Jesus I am running to you
mean that church
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. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Paul highlights the difference between the flesh and the Spirit
The flesh will always lead to death as that is its default setting
The Spirit will always lead to life as that is its default setting
When we set our minds on the things of the flesh they are against God
When we start to run after money, fame, greedy
When we start to run after pride
When it starts to be all about what i want and nothing about living for God those are the things of the flesh
the flesh is sinful and church as we have just read through out of all Scripture and especially this morning
Jesus has and will set us free from that
And I know that sounds weird because I am still living in my flesh on this side of heaven but Jesus is full of Grace and Mercy and church that is the power that you and I get to overcome sin that Jesus has set us free
Believe you me it won’t happen over night
But the grace of God says I love you so much I am with you
So this morning stop believing the lie that sin has power over you
As a child of God satan has no power over you and this morning start believing truth from the Word of God
Paul confirms that He is writing to Jewish Christians in Rome
9 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. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 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.
Now Paul is highlighting the difference of the believer and non believer
The difference is not how good they are
Its not what Church they belong to
Its not even what songs or music they listen
Notice in vs 10
If Christ is in you
That is the difference between you and the world
The Spirit of the Living God who by the way Paul reminds they Raise Jesus Christ from the dead now dwells inside you
That is what makes you different
Until that happens church you are just like the world
And Paul has already shared what things of the flesh lead to
They are an enemy of God and lead to death
If you have repented of sin and trust in Jesus then according to scripture
Not the church, not the pastor, not the church people
But according to the Word of God you are a child of God and as a Child of God you have the indwelling of the Spirit of God
Which means the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave
The Same spirit that was there before there was a there at the beginning or even before the beginning of time now lives inside you
Start living like it
Church Paul is sharing that only Jesus can give life
Last week we saw how Students were moved to name specifics in their lives they need to stop or run from and run to Jesus
That had nothing to do with Super Summer
That had nothing to do with Salina, KS
It had nothing to do with camp food
Church It had everything todo with the Spirit of God moving in such a mighty way they couldn’t help but be changed
Do you understand this morning that it is only Jesus who gives life
10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
If satan came to destroy your life, steal your life and kill you
Jesus says I came so you would have life and not just a mediocre life, not just barely keeping your head above water life but an abundantly life through Christ
Church this is Paul's message that Jesus saves
CLOSING
To the non believer this morning Jesus saves right now this morning you are lost would accept what Jesus did on the cross for you, would you trust and believe that Jesus is the son of God would you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, would you repent this morning of your sin and run to Jesus
To the believer this morning maybe you have fallen into a rut that your relationship with Jesus is just all about checking the box and some distance God that you hardly even know anymore
this morning know this Jesus saves, Jesus is real and Jesus is alive
Would you repent and run back to Jesus would cry out to God for the Joy of the Lord again, would you return to your first Love again
Church the alter is open if you want to make a decision, if you want to speak with someone, or if you want to pray
