20250907 Romans 8:1-4 The Spirit of Life
The Book of Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome to Vertical Church
We begin each Sunday with a time of prayer and singing.
Let us worship God
Call to Worship - Psalm 96:1-4
1 Sing to Yahweh a new song; Sing to Yahweh, all the earth. 2 Sing to Yahweh, bless His name; Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day. 3 Recount His glory among the nations, His wondrous deeds among all the peoples. 4 For great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised; He is more fearsome than all gods.
Scripture Reading - Romans 8:1-4
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 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 righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Introduction: Romans 8:1-4 The Spirit of Life
It’s too bad we don’t like old pastors. By old pastors I’m mean men like Richard Sibbes 1577-1635 who was an English evangelical preacher known for promoting a greater love for Christ and a greater understanding of the greatness of God’s grace.
While he was fully aware of the rebellion and sinfulness of our hearts, He was continually asking his listeners to not focus on their failures but on God’s faithfulness and mercy. He believed that the higher Christ was lifted p the greater would be our devotion to Him
“Sibbes sought to draw his audience’s eyes from their own hearts to the Saviour, for ‘there are heights, and depths, and breadths of mercy in him above all the depths of our sin and misery’. How so? Because, since ‘God’s love resteth on Christ, as well pleased in him, we may gather that he is as well pleased with us, if we be in Christ!’ Thus Christian confidence in our spiritual state rests not on our strength of faith or performance, but upon ‘the joint agreement of all three persons of the Trinity’, that the Father loves the Son, and it is in the Son’s merits, and not our own, that Christians are loved. Because God is a loving community, Christians can be confident. Then, instead of simply laying moral burdens on young and struggling Christians, Sibbes showed them Christ’s attractiveness so that they might love him from the heart. From then, the Christian’s first task is ‘to warm ourselves at this fire of his love and mercy in giving himself for us’. Only when Christians do that do they truly stop sinning from the heart (whereas when they merely alter their behaviour it does nothing for the sin of the heart). In other words, Sibbes believed that the solution to sin is not the attempt to live without sin, but the gospel of God’s free grace.”
― Michael Reeves, The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation
This view of the greatness of the Father and the greatness of the Son must also be given to the greatness of the Spirit and this is what Paul shows us in Romans 8
Twenty one times Paul refers to the Holy Spirit in this chapter and this morning we’ll focus on verses 1-4
The greatness of the Holy Spirit should cause us to have a greater sense of trust in the promises of God and the ability of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to transform us and
(1) The Most Important Word in Romans 8:1
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
What is the most important word? You could make an argument for almost any word
Paul begins this verse with the word No, Literally - No therefore now condemnation
Based on what Paul has said in Romans 7 - the battle with sin, the wretched man of his sinful nature, his desires that wage war against the will of God
No condemnation
When, Now - the battle with self condemnation, the battle with doubt about our salvation, doubt about God’s forgiveness, doubt about God’s love
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
(2) The Most Important Work of the Spirit
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Let’s look at the word life in the Old Testament
7 Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being.
15 So they came to Noah into the ark, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life.
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life—of all that was on the dry land—died.
4 “The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your seed,
6 “Yahweh puts to death and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.
1 And you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Free from condemnation, free from guilt - this is the law of sin and death
(3) The Most Important Requirement
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 righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
God sent His Son
In the likeness of sinful flesh - but He was perfect
Condemned - sin was condemned, defeated, overcome
The righteous requirement - God demands perfection
Might be fulfilled in us - we are united to Christ and have his righteousness
We are no longer enslaved to the flesh, we NOW walk according to the Spirit, the Spirit of Life
May the Lord hide you in His shelter in the day of trouble, conceal you under the cover of His tent, may He set you high upon a rock. Amen.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.
